Matthew Perry was a beloved celebrity who passed away suddenly in 2023. At first glance, it was concluded that he passed away due to a drug overdose. However, as time went on, the determination that it was a homicide.
This past week saw his family get some form of justice.
A Los Angeles woman dubbed the "Ketamine Queen" has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for selling drugs that led to the death of Friends actor, Matthew Perry.
Jasveen Sangha pleaded guilty last September to five charges, including one count of distributing ketamine resulting in death or bodily injury.
For years, Jasveen Sangha, dubbed the "Ketamine Queen," ran what prosecutors say in a sentencing memo was a "high volume drug trafficking business out of her North Hollywood residence." She marketed herself, prosecutors say, as a dealer who sold exclusively to A-list clientele.
The Los Angeles Medical Examiner’s Office listed the cause of death as "acute effects of ketamine" and subsequent drowning.
Sangha and four others were charged in August 2024 in connection with Perry’s death.
A year later, Sangha agreed to plead guilty to five federal criminal charges, including providing the ketamine that led to Perry’s death. Her plea follows the path of the other four defendants who struck agreements with federal prosecutors.
Her previous lifestyle had its benefits. Prosecutors said Sangha had a privileged background yet chose to deal drugs "not because of financial deprivation but for greed, glamor and access."
Prosecutors described the American-British dual-national's North Hollywood home as a "drug-selling emporium" - selling a range of drugs to wealthy and well-connected clients.
Perry, who had struggled with addiction for years, was found dead in the hot tub of his Los Angeles home in October 2023. Investigators determined his death was caused by the acute effects of ketamine.
Ketamine is a dissociative anaesthetic that has some hallucinogenic effects and is supposed to be administered only by a physician. Sangha sobbed as relatives of Perry addressed the court, before the judge announced her sentence.
The judge said she must answer for her crimes, noting that she had shown no remorse in the years since her arrest.
Given her opportunity to address the court, Sangha admitted that her poor decisions had shattered people's lives, and that she was deeply ashamed and sorry for what she did.
Ahead of Sangha's sentencing, Perry's stepmother, Debbie Perry, asked the judge to hand the maximum possible prison sentence. Sangha caused "irreversible" damage, Debbie Perry said in a victim impact statement submitted to the California court on Tuesday.
"You caused this...You who has talent for business enough to make money chose the one way that hurts people," she said. "Please give this heartless woman the maximum prison sentence so she won't be able to hurt other families like ours."
Federal authorities found dozens of ketamine vials during a raid at Sangha's Los Angeles home and accused her of supplying the injectable drug from her "stash house" in North Hollywood since at least 2019.
Thousands of pills that included methamphetamine, cocaine and Xanax were also found. Sangha initially denied the charges but agreed to change her plea in August, just weeks before her trial was scheduled to begin.
Matthew Perry’s stepdad, Keith Morrison, is letting the justice system take the lead.
"I feel bad for you," Morrison—who wed Matthew’s mother Suzanne Perry Morrison in 1981—said in his victim’s impact statementon on 8 April, per Today. "I don’t hate you, I’m not angry at you. You’re a drug dealer."
The journalist kept his statement succinct, adding, "The fact is you supplied an addict." He went on to honour what could’ve become of Perry’s life had he not died in 2023 at age 54.
"There was a spark to that man that I’ve never seen anywhere else…he was one of a kind,” the 78-year-old continued. “He should have had another act. Two more acts."
For her part, Sangha took accountability for her “poor decisions” in her own statement during the sentencing.
"I pray for forgiveness every day," the 42-year-old said in her address to the courtroom, per NBC News. "Thank you for giving me the harshest reality check of my life. Thank you for taking me out of the equation."
Following the sentencing, Perry’s stepfather also shared a statement outside of the courthouse, expressing gratitude for the case to be behind their family, which also includes Perry’s father, John Bennett Perry and his wife, Debbie Boyle Perry.
"We miss Matthew dreadfully, of course, and I feel bad for the family of the perpetrator here as well," Morrison said. "Nobody won today."
When it came to Sangha’s sentencing itself, Morrison called the judge’s decision of 15 years "very fair" but acknowledged that the former ketamine dealer felt obvious remorse for her actions.
"She is clearly human," he said. "She is now facing her sentence, and I think she’ll do fine in prison."
Shortly after Sangha’s indictment, then-US Attorney for the Central District of California, E. Martin Estrada, told reporters, "Defendants nowadays are on full notice that the products they sell could result in the death of another person. Therefore, if you’re in the drug business and despite these risks, you continue in the drug business, you are pushed by greed to gamble with other people’s lives, be advised, we will hold you accountable."
"The emphasis on high-profile cases largely stems from the visibility they bring to the issue, helping to shed light on the broader implications of the drug crisis," Andrew Pickett, a lead trial attorney based in Melbourne, Florida, said in August 2024.
"They serve as a warning to both practitioners operating on the fringes of legality and those facilitating substance abuse," Pickett said.
The rise of drug-related deaths has forced law enforcement and prosecutors around the country to adjust tactics by dedicating more personnel to aggressively target traffickers and dealers.
Even the death of a customer is not always a deterrent for a drug dealer to halt their illicit business practices.
Estrada, the federal prosecutor, mentioned Perry’s battles with addiction, which have been well documented for years. The actor published a memoir less than a year before his death describing his decades-long struggles.
"The investigation revealed that in the fall of 2023, Mr. Perry fell back into addiction and these defendants took advantage to profit for themselves," Estrada said in 2024.
"He would think of (drug dealers) as sometimes his best friends, sometimes his worst enemies," Perry’s stepfather, Keith Morrison, said in court.
Estrada, the federal prosecutor, mentioned Perry’s battles with addiction, which have been well documented for years. The actor published a memoir less than a year before his death describing his decades-long struggles.
"The investigation revealed that in the fall of 2023, Mr. Perry fell back into addiction and these defendants took advantage to profit for themselves," Estrada said in 2024.
While investigating Perry’s death, the US Attorney’s Office said they uncovered an underground network of doctors and drug suppliers they claim were responsible for distributing the ketamine.
As part of her plea agreement, she also pleaded guilty to selling ketamine to a man named Cody McLaury in August 2019, who died hours after the purchase from a drug overdose, according to the justice department.
I always find this kind of investigations weird. To me, an overdose is an overdose. I believe it's a bit over the top to rule the death as a homicide. However, I'm thrilled that justice was served.
To me, drug dealers are remorseless. Business is business to them. What happens to the customers after the transaction is totally on the customer. They have no conscience.
After finding out about a death, they simply wave their hands and everything they say about it is highly on the hyperbole side. They'll never learn their lesson.