LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - One of two doctors who are among the five people charged in the ketamine overdose death of "Friends" star Matthew Perry was barred by a federal judge on Friday from practicing medicine and through his lawyer afterward expressed remorse.
Dr. Mark Chavez appeared in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles for a brief arraignment on a single felony count of conspiracy to illegally distribute ketamine and was permitted to remain free on $50,000 bond.
Chavez has previously signed an agreement with federal prosecutors to enter a guilty plea, which defense lawyer Matt Binninger told reporters his client would do at a later proceeding to be scheduled within a few weeks. No plea was entered on Friday.
As part of the bond conditions set by Magistrate Judge Jean Rosenbluth, Chavez also surrendered his passport and was ordered not to practice medicine. He had agreed to surrender his medical license at a separate administrative hearing earlier this week, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office.
"My client is accepting responsibility. He’s doing everything in his power to cooperate, to help in this situation, and he’s incredibly remorseful," Binninger said outside the courthouse.
The lawyer added that Chavez's regret stemmed not from Perry's celebrity but from the fact that "someone who was trying to seek treatment died."
The attorney declined to discuss any details of the case. Chavez, with a downcast expression on his face, stood beside his lawyer but made no comment.
Another physician charged in the case, Dr. Salvador Plasencia, has pleaded not guilty, as has co-defendant Jasveen Sangha, who authorities said was an illicit supplier of the drug and was known as the "ketamine queen."
Perry's live-in personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, who admitted to injecting Perry, and the alleged middleman who said he obtained ketamine from Sangha, have already pleaded guilty to charges they faced.
Authorities said Plasencia purchased ketamine from Chavez, and in text messages to Chavez discussing the amount to charge Perry for the drug wrote: "I wonder how much this moron will pay."
Perry died at age 54 in October 2023 from "acute effects" of ketamine and other factors that caused him to lose consciousness and drown in his hot tub, according to a December 2023 autopsy report.
The actor had publicly acknowledged decades of substance abuse, including during the years he starred as Chandler Bing on the hit 1990s television sitcom "Friends."
(Reporting by Jorge Garcia and Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Chris Reese)
