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Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett handed down the sentence plus two years of probation to Dr. Salvador Plasencia, 44, in a federal courtroom in Los Angeles.

The judge emphasized that Plasencia didn't provide the ketamine that killed Perry, but told him, "You and others helped Mr. Perry on the road to such an ending by continuing to feed his ketamine addiction."

"You exploited Mr. Perry's addiction for your own profit," she said.

Plasencia was led from the courtroom in handcuffs as his mother cried loudly in the audience.

He was the first to be sentenced of the five defendants who pleaded guilty in connection with Perry's death at age 54 in 2023.

The doctor admitted to taking advantage of Perry, knowing he struggled with addiction. Plasencia texted another doctor that Perry was a "moron" who could be exploited for money, according to court filings.

Prosecutors asked for three years in prison, while the defense sought just a day in prison plus probation.

Perry's mother, stepmother and two half sisters gave tearful victim impact statements before the sentencing.

"My brother's death turned my world upside down," sister Madeline Morrison said, crying. "It punched a crater in my life. His absence is everywhere."

She talked about the broad effect of his loss. "The world mourns my brother. He was everyone's favorite friend," she said, adding, "celebrities are not plastic dolls that you can take advantage of. They're people. They're human beings with families."

Perry's mother talked about the things he overcame in life and the strength he showed.

"I used to think he couldn't die," Suzanne Perry said as her husband, "Dateline" journalist Keith Morrison, stood at the podium with her.

"You called him a 'moron,'" she said, addressing Plasencia. "There is nothing moronic about that man. He was even a successful drug addict."

She spoke eloquently and apologized for rambling before getting tearful, saying, "this was a bad thing you did!"

Plasencia also spoke before the sentencing, breaking into tears as he imagined the day he would have to tell his now 2-year-old son "about the time I didn't protect another mother's son. It hurts me so much. I can't believe I'm here."

He apologized directly to Perry's family. "I should have protected him," he said.

Perry took the surgical anesthetic ketamine legally as a treatment for depression. When his regular doctor wouldn't provide it in the amounts he wanted, he turned to Plasencia.

Plasencia's lawyers tried to give a sympathetic portrait of him as a man who rose out of poverty to become a doctor beloved by his patients.

His mother stood to speak after Perry's mother spoke, but the judge told her it wasn't appropriate for this hearing.

Plasencia pleaded guilty in July to four counts of distribution of ketamine. Prosecutors agreed to drop five different counts. He did not plead to causing Perry's death, and the amount he distributed was relatively small given that he sold only to Perry.

Garnett said at the start of the hearing that family impact statements may not be appropriate because legally, "there is no identifiable victim in this case. The victim is the public."

But Perry's lawyers said they didn't object to family members speaking.

The defense sought to cast Plasencia as a doctor treating a patient who was overcome by recklessness and greed.

"It was a perfect storm of bad decision-making, everybody agrees," attorney Karen Goldstein said, adding, "absolutely his judgment was clouded by money."

Prosecutors said he never acted as a doctor. "He wasn't a negligent or reckless medical provider," Assistant U.S. Attorney Ian Yanniello said. "He was a drug dealer in a white coat."

Garnett generally agreed, pushing back against the defense argument that Perry was Plasencia's patient, and the doctor diagnosed him in a phone call they had before the sales began.

"Mr. Plasencia kept pushing it," the judge said. "He literally was offering to sell ketamine."

The other four defendants who reached deals to plead guilty will be sentenced at their own hearings in coming months. Garnett said she would seek to make sure all the sentences made sense in relation to one another.

Perry struggled with addiction for years, dating back to his time on "Friends," when he became one of the biggest stars of his generation as Chandler Bing. He starred alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004 on NBC's megahit.