In a Los Angeles courtroom, matthew perry became more than a headline again. He became the center of a family’s grief, a defendant’s remorse, and a judge’s decision to impose a 15-year prison term on Jasveen Sangha, the woman prosecutors called the “Ketamine Queen. ”
What happened in court?
Jasveen Sangha, 42, pleaded guilty last September to five charges, including distributing ketamine resulting in death or bodily injury. She was sentenced on Wednesday by US District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett, who said she must answer for her crimes and noted that she had shown no remorse in the years since her arrest.
Sangha sobbed as relatives of Perry addressed the court. When given a chance to speak, she said her poor decisions had shattered people’s lives and that she was deeply ashamed and sorry for what she did. The sentence was 15 years in prison, far below the 65-year maximum she had faced, but still the harshest punishment among the five people who pleaded guilty in the case.
Why did prosecutors push for 15 years?
Prosecutors described Sangha’s North Hollywood home as a “drug-selling emporium, ” saying it supplied a range of drugs to wealthy and well-connected clients. They said federal authorities found dozens of ketamine vials during a raid and thousands of pills that included methamphetamine, cocaine and Xanax.
In court filings, prosecutors argued that Sangha chose profits over people and showed a cold disregard for life. They also said she continued dealing after learning of the deaths tied to her sales. One case involved Cody McLaury, who died hours after buying ketamine from her in 2019. That detail mattered in court because it reinforced the pattern prosecutors described: repeated drug sales, repeated loss, and repeated refusal to stop.
matthew perry died in October 2023 in the hot tub of his Los Angeles home. Investigators determined the acute effects of ketamine caused his death. He had struggled with addiction for years, and the case has drawn attention because it shows how a private struggle can end in public loss.
How did Perry’s family respond?
Before sentencing, Perry’s stepmother Debbie Perry asked the judge to impose the maximum possible prison term. In a victim impact statement submitted to the California court, she called the damage “irreversible” and urged the court to keep Sangha from hurting other families.
Keith Morrison, Perry’s stepfather, and Suzanne Morrison, Perry’s mother, also appeared in the wider courtroom picture of grief. Morrison said he and his wife feel a “daily, grinding sadness and sorrow. ” That pain framed the hearing not just as a punishment for one defendant, but as a reckoning for everyone left behind.
What does this case say about ketamine and accountability?
The case has moved through multiple defendants, including two doctors, Perry’s assistant, an acquaintance, and Sangha. One judge previously told a doctor that continuing to feed Perry’s ketamine addiction helped put him on the road to death. Sangha is the only defendant whose plea deal included an acknowledgement of causing Perry’s death.
Her lawyers said she had no criminal history and had taken part in recovery and rehabilitation programs while incarcerated. Prosecutors countered that her conduct reflected privilege, greed, and a willingness to keep selling drugs after others had died. The judge said she was calibrating punishment so each sentence would make sense as part of the whole case.
For matthew perry, the final scene in court was not a return to fame, but a sobering reminder of how addiction, access, and profit can intersect. As the family’s pain remained visible and the sentence was read aloud, the room seemed to hold one unresolved question: whether justice can ever feel complete when the loss is already permanent.
