Matthew Perry’s former personal assistant sentenced

LOS ANGELES (NBC, KYMA) - The final sentence in connection with the ketamine overdose death of "Friends" star Matthew Perry was handed down Wednesday.

A judge sentencing Perry's former assistant Kenneth Iwamasa to three years and five months in federal prison for buying and injecting Perry with the fatal doses of ketamine that killed him in 2023.

"Kenny wants to express his deepest sympathy for the part that he played in the death of Matthew Perry. Mr. Perry was a man, a friend, his boss, someone who he had the deepest affection for. He's been devastated since his death, and he continues to be devastated," said Alan Eisner, Iwamasa's attorney.

The 60-year-old was the central figure in the 2.5-year investigation which led to the arrest of five people in total.

After being charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine resulting in death, Iwamasa reached a plea deal with prosecutors, becoming a key witness in the cases against the other defendants.

Following the hearing, Keith Morrison, who is Perry's stepfather, spoke outside the courthouse to talk about the sentencing.

"You know, these are the kind of wounds that don't heal, they really don't, and you think about it every day, many times every day...For a long, long time I thought of Kenny as a sweet, helpful man, and he often was, but he is revealed as a highly manipulative man who wasn't taken advantage of by Matthew. It was really the other way around. He knew that from the very beginning. He was told that repeatedly, you see any evidence of drug-related activity, you don't know who to call, and we were on speed dial. Would have taken him 10 seconds, and he would have solved the problem. I don't think he wanted to solve the problem."

Keith Morrison's Matthew Perry's stepfather

Iwamasa was ordered to surrender by noon on July 17 to start his prison sentence.