Erik Fleming, the addiction counsellor who delivered the doses of ketamine that killed Matthew Perry, has been jailed. Perry, who was 54 when he died, was best known for playing Chandler Bing on the NBC sitcom Friends.
Sentencing details
Fleming was sentenced to two years behind bars by Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett at a federal court in Los Angeles on Wednesday. Appearing in court, Fleming told the judge, "It's truly a nightmare I can't wake up from." He added that he was "haunted" by the mistakes he had made, speaking from the podium while wearing a black suit.
The judge ordered Fleming, who has been free on bond for about two years, to turn himself in to serve his term in 45 days. He was also sentenced to three years of probation. Fleming is the fourth defendant sentenced of the five who have pleaded guilty in prosecutions over the actor's 2023 death in the Jacuzzi at his Los Angeles home.
Connection to the Ketamine Queen
Fleming connected Perry to Jasveen Sangha, the convicted drug dealer prosecutors called "The Ketamine Queen." She was sentenced to 15 years in prison last month. Fleming gave up Sangha to investigators the same day they found him at his sister's house, where he was sleeping on the couch several months after Perry's death.
He became the first defendant to plead guilty in August 2024, admitting to one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death. That was before arrests in the case were announced, and Wednesday was his first court appearance since his role became public.
Robert Dugdale, Fleming's attorney, told the court that he "handed over the Ketamine Queen on a silver platter." He added, "They didn't have a clue who she was before that day."
Cooperation and sentencing considerations
Fleming would have likely ended up with around four years behind bars if it weren't for his earlier cooperation, according to federal sentencing guidelines. The prosecution said he deserved credit for doing the right thing, but argued that he did so only when confronted and cornered by authorities.
"Mr Fleming didn't cooperate because he had a benevolent motive, or because he wanted justice for Mr Perry," Assistant U.S. Attorney Ian Yanniello said. "He wanted to save himself."
The judge also pointed out that Fleming didn't come forward in the months after Perry's death, that he didn't create new evidence by making phone calls to co-conspirators or anything similar, and that the information he provided might have been obtained anyway simply through the seizure of his phone.
But all agreed that he sped up and smoothed the investigation with his cooperation. Prosecutors said in a sentencing memo that his role as a drug counsellor who "deliberately undertook to sell illegal street drugs to a victim who had a public, well-documented battle with drug addiction" should count against him, even if Perry wasn't one of his regular clients.
Defence lawyers emphasised that he had no criminal record and repeatedly pointed out that he only spent 11 days of his life dealing drugs to a single customer. They had asked for a sentence of three months in prison and nine months in a residential drug treatment facility.
Remorse and rehabilitation
Fleming said his great remorse "can't compare to the agony I've caused" to Perry's family and friends. He and his lawyers also highlighted what they called his extraordinary work towards rehabilitation, spending 20 months sober and helping to establish a sober living home. After the hearing, he hugged several friends in the courtroom who had supported him.
Perry had been receiving ketamine treatments for depression, an increasingly common off-label use. A few weeks before his death, Perry was seeking more of the drug than he could get through doctors and asked a friend to help him get more. She was in a treatment facility, so she introduced Perry to Fleming.
Fleming was a former film and television producer whose career had been ravaged by addiction. He got sober and became a drug counsellor, but had relapsed after the 2023 death of a beloved stepmother who had rescued him from a traumatic childhood, his lawyers said.
Details of the drug supply
Fleming would get ketamine from Sangha, mark up the price to make a profit, and deliver it to Perry's house, where he sold it to the actor's live-in personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa. His deliveries included 25 vials for $6,000 four days before Perry's death.
Iwamasa would inject Perry from that batch on Oct. 28, 2023, and hours later, he found the actor dead. A medical examiner's report found that Perry died from the acute effects of ketamine, a surgical anaesthetic, and drowning was a secondary cause. Iwamasa is set to be the last defendant sentenced in two weeks.
If you have been affected by this story, Cruse Bereavement Support offers free help to make sense of how you are feeling. Click here for their website or call 0808 808 1677.
