LOS ANGELES (AP) 鈥� A federal judge on Wednesday handed down a sentence of 15 years in prison to a woman who pleaded guilty to selling actor the ketamine that killed him in 2023.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e going to have to show some epic resilience,鈥� Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett said to , echoing the defendant’s words earlier in the hearing about her self-improvement.
Citing the unique role Sangha admitted to playing in Perry鈥檚 death and her broader drug-dealing business, the judge gave the 42-year-old a sentence that will almost certainly be more than all four of her co-defendants combined.
The hearing Wednesday in a Los Angeles courtroom was in many ways the pinnacle of the 2 1/2-year investigation and prosecution that followed the overdose death of the 54-year-old actor, whose role as in the 1990s and 2000s made him one of the biggest television stars of the era.
Keith Morrison, Perry鈥檚 stepfather and correspondent for NBC鈥檚 鈥淒ateline,鈥� told the judge that he and Perry鈥檚 mother, Suzanne, feel a 鈥渄aily, grinding sadness and sorrow.鈥�
鈥淭here was a spark to that man I have never seen anywhere else,鈥� Morrison said. 鈥淗e should have had another act. Two more acts.鈥�
Just before she was sentenced, told the judge she wears her shame 鈥渓ike a jacket.鈥�
鈥淭hese were not mistakes. They were horrible decisions,鈥� Sangha said, which 鈥渟hattered people鈥檚 lives and the lives of their family and friends.鈥�
Prosecutors secured the exact sentence they asked for after casting Sangha as a 鈥淜etamine Queen鈥� who had an elaborate drug operation catering to high-end clients to give herself a jet-setting lifestyle.
Sangha鈥檚 attorneys argued the time she has spent in jail since her August 2024 indictment should be sufficient, pointing to her good behavior behind bars and lack of prior arrests.
Perry was found dead in the hot tub at his Los Angeles home in October 2023. The medical examiner typically used as a surgical anesthetic, was the primary cause of death 鈥� and drowning was a secondary cause.
Mark Geragos, Sangha鈥檚 attorney, said 鈥減ernicious鈥� addiction was truly responsible for Perry鈥檚 death, not his client.
鈥淭here was nobody who was going to stop Mr. Perry from doing what he was going to do,鈥� Geragos said.
In September, Sangha became the last of five co-defendants to plead guilty, admitting to one count of using her home for drug distribution, three counts of distribution of ketamine, and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death.
Geragos denounced the prosecution’s use of the moniker 鈥淜etamine Queen,鈥� blaming it on E. Martin Estrada, the U.S. attorney when the case was filed.
“That was not her name, that was his very clever name to draw media attention this case,” Geragos said.
Perry had been using the drug through his regular doctor as a legal off-label treatment for depression. But he sought more than the doctor would give him. That at first led him to , who admitted to illegally selling Perry ketamine and was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison. And, days before his death, it led Perry to Sangha, and a $6,000 cash buy that included the lethal dose.
Another doctor, who admitted to he sold to Perry, was sentenced to eight months of home detention. Perry鈥檚 assistant and his friend, who admitted acting as the actor鈥檚 middlemen, are awaiting sentencing.
The judge said she was trying to carefully calibrate the sentences for the five defendants. She expressed concern about the balance during the hearing, asking lawyers why Sangha deserved so much more time than Plasencia or Perry’s assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, who obtained and injected the drugs at Perry’s request and injected them into him.
Geragos seized on this and said the disparity was outrageous.
鈥淭he person who supplies the ammunition, they’re more culpable than the person who pulls the trigger?鈥� he asked.
But before sentencing, Garnett said the size of Sangha’s drug business, the years she spent dealing and her long list of clients clearly made her more culpable. And she said she believed Sangha’s lack of a criminal history was underrepresented.
The judge also cited Sangha’s continued dealing after learning through a text message from his sister that one of her customers, 33-year-old Cody McLaury, had died in 2019.
The sister, Kimberly McLaury, spoke in court.
鈥淗ad you stopped selling ketamine when I texted you, we wouldn’t be here today,鈥� she said.
Perry鈥檚 stepmother Debbie Perry told Sangha she had caused pain for 鈥渉undreds, maybe thousands鈥� of people.
The judge commended Sangha for the 鈥渃ountless鈥� letters of support she got from family and friends touting her decency and loving nature. Many of them were there in court, sitting on the opposite side from Perry’s family.
鈥淭here’s no joy in this process,鈥� Garnett told the victim’s family members. 鈥淢aybe at the end of the day you will feel a sense of justice.鈥�
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