Kenneth Iwamasa Gets 41 Months in Matthew Perry Case
Kenneth Iwamasa was sentenced Wednesday to 41 months in prison in the Matthew Perry ketamine case. The former assistant to the actor also received two years of supervised release, a $10,000 fine and a mandatory $100 special assessment. He is the last of the five people charged in connection with Perry’s death to be sentenced.
Los Angeles court sentence
Iwamasa pleaded guilty in 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death. Prosecutors said he injected Perry with at least 27 shots of ketamine in the days before Perry died on Oct. 28, 2023, including at least three shots on the day Perry died.
They also said he spent tens of thousands of dollars on dozens of vials of ketamine for Perry over a span of a few weeks. Perry was found floating face down in a hot tub at his home in Los Angeles, and the Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office said the acute effects of ketamine caused his death.
Suzanne Morrison letter
Suzanne Morrison told the court, “Matthew trusted Kenny. We trusted Kenny.” In the same letter, she wrote, “Kenny’s most important job — by far — was to be my son’s companion and guardian in his fight against addiction.” She added, “But instead of protecting Matthew, he aided and abetted illegal drug taking, arranged for one source of supply, then another.”
Alan Eisner, Iwamasa’s lawyer, said he was “not someone who forced drugs on an unwilling victim” and said he “idolized Mr. Perry.” Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett disagreed with that framing, using “unwilling” and “unable” in court on Wednesday.
Five defendants in Perry case
The sentencing closes the criminal case’s last outstanding punishment among the five defendants charged after Perry’s death. Court documents said Iwamasa became Perry’s live-in assistant in 2022, earned $150,000 a year and handled responsibilities tied to Perry’s medical care.
For readers following the case, the practical result is blunt: the prison term is set, the financial penalty is set, and the final sentencing in the five-defendant case is complete. What remains on the record is the account of how a trusted aide moved from managing medical support to helping supply the drug prosecutors say killed Perry.
