Kenneth Iwamasa, the live-in personal assistant to Matthew Perry, will be sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty in August 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine resulting in death.
Prosecutors say Iwamasa injected Perry repeatedly with illicit ketamine in the weeks before the actor died and delivered the fatal dose on Oct. 28, 2023. They say Iwamasa gave Perry two doses that day, left after a third administration to run errands, and returned to find Perry dead, face down in the jacuzzi. Prosecutors allege that Iwamasa found Perry unconscious at least two times in October 2023, watched him "freeze up" after a large injection, and nonetheless continued to inject him — including what they described as "significant quantities" in the days leading to his death. After calling 911, prosecutors say, Iwamasa cleaned up bottles and syringes at the scene and omitted ketamine from a list of Perry's medications when questioned.
The government has treated the episode as part of a wider conspiracy: five people were charged and convicted in what prosecutors called a scheme to illegally distribute ketamine to Perry. Prosecutors say Iwamasa worked with two doctors to obtain ketamine and then turned to two dealers to secure dozens of vials. He pleaded guilty to the single count in August 2024 and faces up to 15 years in prison, though prosecutors asked the court to impose 41 months — roughly three and a half years.
Defense attorneys argued at sentencing filings and hearings that Iwamasa was an employee who acted at the victim's direction rather than on his own initiative. They emphasized that multiple third parties who did not share Iwamasa's relationship with Perry were involved in obtaining and distributing the drug, and urged the court to view him as a subordinate participant rather than the principal architect of the distribution scheme.
That argument collided with prosecutors' portrayal of Iwamasa as a personal enabler. The prosecution says that when Iwamasa was hired he knew Perry had a long history of addiction and that, instead of helping him stay sober, Iwamasa became his supplier and the only person to witness repeated, obvious warning signs that Perry was in danger — yet he kept injecting ketamine.
Context matters here: federal authorities described the case throughout as a conspiracy to illegally distribute ketamine to Matthew Perry, and Iwamasa was the final defendant to be sentenced in the multi-defendant prosecution. The guilty plea in August 2024 closed the last guilty plea window; the sentencing hearing Wednesday will be the last scheduled court event tied to the criminal charges arising from the actor's death.
The immediate tension in the courtroom is plain and legal: prosecutors want a 41-month sentence while the statute exposes Iwamasa to a possible maximum of 15 years. Defense lawyers ask leniency on the grounds of employment and shared culpability; prosecutors point to repeated injections, the fatal Oct. 28, 2023 dose, and the alleged cleanup and omissions afterward as reasons for a meaningful prison term. That disagreement — about how much prison time the facts demand — is the practical issue the judge must resolve.
What happens next is simple and final: the judge will impose Iwamasa's sentence Wednesday, deciding whether to follow the prosecutors' request for roughly 3 1/2 years behind bars or to impose a different term up to the 15-year maximum. With Iwamasa the last defendant standing, the sentence will be the court's closing legal judgment on the matter that ended the life of Matthew Perry.
