Matthew Perry’s personal assistant has made a striking confession ahead of his sentencing, telling a judge he was simply unable to refuse the Friends star’s requests for ketamine, even as those requests ultimately contributed to Perry’s death.
Kenneth Iwamasa is due to be sentenced on 27 May, facing years in prison for his role in securing ketamine for Perry and for injecting him with the drug on the day the actor died.
Perry passed away on 28 October 2023 from the acute effects of ketamine.
In new court documents obtained by TMZ, Iwamasa pushed back against prosecutors’ argument that he could simply have said no, arguing that framing completely ignored the nature of his relationship with the actor.
In his filing, Iwamasa described himself as an employee who “acted at all relevant times at [Matthew’s] direction rather than pursuant to his own discretion.”
His lawyer acknowledged that the employment relationship may have made it easier for his client to become entangled in the conspiracy to supply drugs to Perry than it might have been for someone with no personal connection, but also noted that others with no such relationship chose to participate regardless.
The filing concluded with a frank admission: Iwamasa “could not ‘simply say no'” and acknowledged that “[t]hat inability had tragic consequences.”
The documents are a request for leniency at sentencing, with Iwamasa’s legal team arguing that the power dynamic between employer and employee is a material factor the court should weigh in his favour.
Not everyone is sympathetic.
Perry’s mother and sister have written letters to the court expressing their devastation, accusing Iwamasa of betraying the actor’s trust and enabling the addiction that killed him.
Their position stands in direct contrast to the picture Iwamasa’s defence is trying to paint, that of a man caught in a relationship dynamic he felt powerless to resist.
