Doctor charged in Matthew Perry overdose death case appeals his 30-month prison sentence
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: A doctor who was involved in the overdose death of Matthew Perry has now appealed to reduce his sentence, as per TMZ.
Salvador Plasencia was awarded 30 months behind bars for playing a key role in the actor’s death. Perry was 54 when he died in October 2023.
Salvador Plasencia claims he did not act as a doctor in Matthew Perry's death
In his appeal, Plasencia has requested re-sentencing by an appeals court. He argued that he was not acting as a doctor when he provided the illegal substance to the ‘Friends’ star, thus implying that he did not violate a position of trust as a physician.
“There was therefore no abuse of a position of trust or use of a special skill,” the court document filed by the convict stated, which also noted that “there was no fiduciary relationship in existence and Perry did not grant appellant any discretion as a treating physician.”
Salvador Plasencia requests less punishment
As per Plasencia’s lawyers, he “was punished more severely on account of his professional status even though he did not abuse a position of trust.”
They even asserted that “emphasis upon the appellant's position as a medical doctor was misguided.”
Salvador Plasencia's plea came days after Kenneth Iwamasa was sentenced
Plasencia was one of five people who were deemed responsible for the death of Perry. His re-sentencing appeal came days after the ‘17 Again’ actor’s assistant Kenneth Iwamasa received three years and five months behind bars in late May.
Iwamasa had “repeatedly” injected the American-Canadian actor with the illegal substance “without medical training, including performing multiple injections on Perry on October 28, 2023,” the day he died.
Kenneth Iwamasa blasted for betrayal
Just before Iwamasa’s May 27 sentencing, Perry’s sister Madeline Morrison slammed him in a victim impact statement.
“He had injected my brother with a lethal dose and left him in a hot tub to die. It is difficult to put into words the sense of betrayal I felt when I found out what Kenny had done. In many ways, it felt like my brother died all over again,” she claimed.
Madeline also stated that “everything I believed about the day he died—everything Kenny told us—was a lie,” as she added: “The idea that someone my brother considered family could betray him in such an unimaginable way is something I never could have conceived.”
Kenneth Iwamasa apologized to Matthew Perry's family
However, during his sentencing, Iwamasa sought forgiveness from Perry’s family.
“I'm so sorry to all of you. I'm just so sorry to have done illegal acts that I will forever regret. I will take it to my grave. I hope I'll be a cautionary tale to someone who's in my position to make better choices,” he said.
