俳優マシュー・ペリーさん死亡事件 主治医が有罪答弁へ 米司法省

【ロサンゼルスＡＦＰ＝時事】米テレビドラマ「フレンズ」への出演で知られた俳優マシュー・ペリーさんの薬物過剰摂取による死亡に関わったとして起訴されている主治医が、今後数週間以内に有罪を認める答弁を行う見通しとなった。米司法省が１６日、発表した。（写真は俳優のマシュー・ペリーさん）
　同省はサルバドール・プラセンシア被告について、「（強力な麻酔薬）ケタミンを供給した４件の罪を認めることに同意した」とし、「連邦刑務所での法定最高刑は禁錮４０年」だとしている。
　２人目の医師、マーク・チャベス被告は、ペリーさんが２０２３年にロサンゼルスの自宅の浴槽で死亡しているのが発見される数週間前にケタミン供給を共謀していた罪を昨年１０月に認めた。
　検視の結果、ペリーさんの体内からケタミンが高濃度で検出され、刑事捜査が開始された。
　プラセンシア被告は、チャベス被告からケタミンを購入し、当時、心身ともに追い詰められていたペリーさんに法外な価格で販売したとされる。
　富裕層の顧客やセレブに薬物を供給していたとされ、「ケタミン・クイーン」として知られるジャスビーン・サンガ被告も、ペリーさんにケタミンを販売し、死に追いやったとして起訴されているが、同被告は無罪を主張している。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2025/06/17-16:47）

The main doctor charged in connection with the drug overdose of Friends star Matthew Perry is expected to enter a guilty plea in the coming weeks, the US Justice Department said Monday.
Salvador Plasencia has agreed to plead guilty to four counts of distribution of ketamine, which carries a statutory maximum sentence of 40 years in federal prison, the department said in a statement.
The second doctor in the case, Mark Chavez, pleaded guilty last October to conspiring to distribute ketamine in the weeks before the actor was found dead in the hot tub of his Los Angeles home in 2023.
Perry's lengthy struggles with substance addiction were well-documented, but his death at age 54 sent shockwaves through the global legions of Friends fans.
A criminal investigation was launched soon after an autopsy discovered he had high levels of ketamine -- an anesthetic -- in his system.
Plasencia allegedly bought ketamine off Chavez and sold it to the American-Canadian actor at hugely inflated prices.
I wonder how much this moron will pay, Plasencia wrote in one text message presented by prosecutors.
He went to Perry's home to administer ketamine by injection, according to a plea deal published Monday by the Justice Department.
In total, Plasencia distributed 20 vials of ketamine over a roughly two-week period in autumn 2023, the document said.
Perry had been taking ketamine as part of supervised therapy for depression.
But prosecutors say that before his death he became addicted to the substance, which also has psychedelic properties and is a popular party drug.
- Dark struggle -
Five people have been charged over Perry's death.
Jasveen Sangha, the alleged Ketamine Queen who supplied drugs to high-end clients and celebrities, is charged with selling Perry the dose that killed him. She has pleaded not guilty.
Perry's live-in personal assistant and another man pleaded guilty last August to charges of conspiracy to distribute ketamine.
Comedic television series Friends, which followed the lives of six New Yorkers navigating adulthood, dating and careers, drew a massive global following and made megastars of previously unknown actors.
Perry's role as the sarcastic man-child Chandler brought him fabulous wealth, but hid a dark struggle with addiction to painkillers and alcohol.
In 2018, he suffered a drug-related burst colon and underwent multiple surgeries.
In his 2022 memoir Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing, Perry described going through detox dozens of times.
I have mostly been sober since 2001, he wrote, save for about sixty or seventy little mishaps.