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(LOS ANGELES, Calif. ) — A man who helped supply Matthew Perry with the doses of ketamine that killed the “Friends” actor was sentenced on Wednesday to two years in prison.

Erik Fleming, a licensed drug addiction counselor, admitted in a plea agreement to working with another dealer to provide Perry with dozens of vials of ketamine, including the dose that led to the actor’s fatal overdose in October 2023 at the age of 54. 

Fleming is one of five people charged and convicted in what prosecutors called a conspiracy to illegally distribute ketamine to Perry. He pleaded guilty in August 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death.  

He faced up to 25 years in prison, prosecutors said.

The sentence also includes three years of supervised release.

“I am regretfully sorry for the pain and anguish I have caused the family. It’s what hurts me the most,” Fleming told reporters upon leaving the courthouse.

He said he deserved a consequence, “and I got a consequence.”

“My chest and heart hurt every day for the pain that I’ve caused not only his family, but the millions of people who adored him,” Fleming said.

Federal prosecutors argued in a memorandum filed ahead of sentencing that Fleming should receive 30 months in prison due to his “profit-seeking behavior and reckless distribution of dubiously manufactured drugs.” 

They said that after learning through a friend that Perry was seeking illicit ketamine, Fleming brokered multiple transactions between the other dealer, Jasveen Sangha, and the actor’s live-in personal assistant, “despite knowing the risk and dangers of selling the drugs.”

They said Fleming knew about Perry’s history of addiction and still chose to sell him drugs, which, unlike medical-grade ketamine, were contained in clear, unmarked vials of unknown concentrations. They said he also marked up the price of the vials Sangha was selling from $160 to $220.

They said Fleming struggled with addiction himself and was “well aware of the warning signs of drug seeking behavior,” but that he “nonetheless elected to insert himself into Mr. Perry’s addiction story to profit from it.”

“Although defendant’s drug trafficking appear[s] to be limited to the drug sales in October 2023, his criminal conduct nonetheless caused significant harm, including the loss of Mr. Perry’s life,” prosecutors stated.

Defense attorneys, meanwhile, requested that Fleming be sentenced to three months in prison and nine months in a residential drug treatment facility “where he can continue the hard work he has put into maintaining his sobriety.”

His attorneys, Robert Dugdale and Jeffrey Chemerinsky, said Fleming “relapsed into heavy drug use” following the death of his stepmother in September 2023 and was “most vulnerable to engage in uncharacteristically reckless conduct.” They argued that he only brokered three transactions “involving very small quantities” of ketamine to a single customer in exchange for less than $2,000 for “logistical fees.”

“Tragically, this brief diversion Mr. Fleming took from his otherwise law-abiding life led to a calamity Mr. Fleming never intended and foolishly did not foresee as possible,” the attorneys stated in a sentencing memorandum. 

“Mr. Fleming is appearing at his sentencing fully acknowledging the role he played in this tragedy and is as remorseful as one could be for the harm he has caused those close to Mr. Perry,” they continued.

Fleming’s attorneys maintained there are multiple mitigating factors, including his “extraordinary cooperation,” which they said helped lead to the “immediate apprehension” of Sangha. Since pleading guilty, he has also “worked tirelessly to maintain his sobriety” and opened a sober living home, they said.

Prosecutors agreed that Fleming warranted leniency for accepting responsibility and cooperating with the government’s investigation, “including information that furthered the prosecution of a more culpable defendant,” Sangha.

Sangha, the so-called “Ketamine Queen,” was sentenced to 15 years in prison last month. She pleaded guilty last year to one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, three counts of distribution of ketamine, and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death or serious bodily injury. 

Prosecutors said she ran a “high-volume drug trafficking business” out of her residence in North Hollywood and continued to sell “dangerous drugs” even after learning she had sold ketamine that contributed to the overdose deaths of two men: Perry and, years earlier, Los Angeles resident Cody McLaury. 

In addition to Fleming and Sangha, three other people were charged and pleaded guilty in connection with Perry’s death: Kenneth Iwamasa, Perry’s live-in personal assistant; and two doctors, Mark Chavez and Salvador Plasencia.

Prosecutors said Sangha worked with Fleming to distribute ketamine to Perry, and that in October 2023, they sold the actor 51 vials of ketamine that were provided to Iwamasa.

“Leading up to Perry’s death, Iwamasa repeatedly injected Perry with the ketamine that Sangha supplied to Fleming,” the DOJ said in a press release last year. “Specifically, on October 28, 2023, Iwamasa injected Perry with at least three shots of Sangha’s ketamine, which caused Perry’s death.”

Iwamasa pleaded guilty in August 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine, causing death, and is scheduled to be sentenced on May 27.

Chavez and Plasencia have already been sentenced for their roles in what prosecutors called a conspiracy to illegally distribute ketamine to Perry.

Chavez, who once ran a ketamine clinic, pleaded guilty in October 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and was sentenced to eight months of home confinement in December 2025.

Plasencia, who briefly treated Perry before the actor’s death, pleaded guilty in July 2025 to four counts of distribution of ketamine and was sentenced to 30 months in prison in December 2025.

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(UTAH) — Kouri Richins, a Utah woman convicted of fatally poisoning her husband with fentanyl, was sentenced to life without parole for murder on Wednesday.

The 35-year-old mother of three, who self-published a children’s book on grieving following her husband’s death in 2022, was found guilty on all counts in March following a weekslong trial. The Summit County jury reached a verdict after about three hours of deliberations.

She faced either 25 years to life in prison or life without parole.

Eric Richins, 39, was found dead in bed on March 4, 2022. An autopsy determined that he died from fentanyl intoxication, and the level of fentanyl in his blood was approximately five times the lethal dosage, according to the charging document.

Kouri Richins was found guilty of aggravated murder, with prosecutors saying she spiked his drink with a lethal dose of fentanyl that she purchased illicitly after asking two people for the “Michael Jackson drug.”

She was also found guilty of attempted aggravated murder, with prosecutors saying she gave her husband a sandwich laced with fentanyl on Valentine’s Day two weeks before his death in an initial, failed attempt to kill him.

She was additionally found guilty of insurance fraud for taking out a $100,000 insurance policy on her husband’s life with his forged signature and for submitting a claim following his death.

Kouri Richins addresses court

Kouri Richins, who did not testify during her trial, addressed the court prior to her sentencing in what the defense said would be an “unusually long” allocution.

She spoke directly to her three children, referring to them as her “sweet baby boys,” saying she has been unable to contact them since early 2024 so “will use any opportunity I can to get a message to you — even if that means sharing it publicly to the world, fully restrained in my jail clothes, in one of the most horrible situations possible.”

“I don’t care, and I’m not embarrassed or ashamed by any of it,” she continued.

While surrounded by her attorneys at the podium in lime-green jail clothing and handcuffs during her nearly 40-minute remarks, she said her children are her reason for living and “I am so sorry for even one second you thought that I did for even one second you thought that I didn’t love you.”

“I know that today you don’t want to speak to me, have a relationship with me,” she said. “You may think you hate me, and that’s okay. I will never be angry at you for your feelings. When the day comes that you’re ready, I will be here for you, waiting for you, and loving you.”

She told them she is “not perfect.”

“I have succeeded and I have failed as a person, as a wife, as a parent — we all do,” she said.

Regarding her and her husband, she said, “We failed at some things, we never failed at loving you boys.”

She got emotional, telling them that they will always have their brothers.

“You have each other’s back,” she said.

Kouri Richins repeatedly told them to “be like their dad” and serve their community, be generous, love the outdoors and be a “noble son.”

“Be the friend everyone wants to be friends with, the dad that everyone wishes they had,” she said.

She said she may never see them again and apologized for them being in the middle of “absolute chaos.”

“I’m sorry that eight people from a jury who have never met you or me or our family have the right to determine our future, and they did that in less than three hours,” she said on her conviction.

She said she’s “broken” without her children and husband, and that the thought that she murdered their dad is an “absolute lie.”

“The thought of that is still as absurd today as it was four years ago,” she said.

“I would have never taken him from you, from us,” she continued.

She said she will appeal her conviction and fight the charges “no matter how long it takes.”

“I will not be blamed for something I did not do,” she said. “I need you boys to know the truth, and because of that, I will never quit the truth and coming home to you.”

Calls for life without parole

Prosecutors asked Judge Richard Mrazik to hand down a sentence of life without the possibility of parole, saying she “murdered Eric in the presence of their children, using poison, and for money.”

“Such a person should never again lurk among the rest of us,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed ahead of Wednesday’s hearing. “Her children should never worry that they may one day encounter her.”

The memo included statements from the couple’s three boys, who were 9, 7 and 5 years old when their father was murdered.

The eldest son, identified by his initials as C.R., wanted the court to know that “my dad was a good person and very thoughtful and kind and helped whoever needed help,” the filing stated.

Prosecutors said that the Utah Division of Child and Family Services supported a finding of emotional and physical abuse by Kouri Richins against C.R. following the death.

“I’m afraid if she gets out, she will come after me and my brothers, my whole family. I think she would come and take us and not do good things to us, like hurt us,” the filing stated. “I miss my dad, but I do not miss how my life used to be, I don’t miss Kouri, I will tell you that.”

The middle child, A.R., was a “material witness” to the murder, according to prosecutors, as Kouri Richins told police that she had gone into his room before returning to bed and finding her husband dead. Had he taken the stand during the trial, “A.R. would have testified at trial that the Defendant did not sleep in his room with him the night she murdered his father,” prosecutors stated.

A.R. said he doesn’t want his mother out of jail “because I will not feel safe,” the filing stated. The youngest son, W.R., also said he would feel “so scared” if his mother ever got out, and that she “makes me feel hateful and ashamed.”

The statements were read on their behalf by advocates during the sentencing hearing.

Defense attorney Wendy Lewis asked that the court not consider the state’s sentencing memo, arguing during the hearing that it contained “unsworn allegations untested by cross-examination” and was a “not-so-subtle attempt” to make public evidence that they held back or were unable to present in court because Kouri Richins did not testify.

Lewis disputed several points in the memo, saying that the Utah Division of Child and Family Services made an initial finding of emotional and physical abuse based on reports, sending the case to juvenile court, which she said found “no fault” — “in other words, that the children needed intervention, but due to no fault of Kouri Richins.”

Lewis also said that upon Kouri Richins’ arrest a year after the death, A.R.’s statements to police at the time were consistent with hers, that “Kouri had gone to sleep in his room” that night.

Judge Mrazik ultimately denied the defense’s request to strike portions of the state’s sentencing memo.

‘Permanent trauma’

The three boys are now in the care of one of Eric Richins’ sisters, Katie Richins-Benson, and her husband, according to the filing.

Richins-Benson urged the court to hand down a sentence that guarantees Kouri Richins will remain in prison for the rest of her life for the “permanent trauma” she’s inflicted on the children.

“The mere thought that someone who has so little regard for human life or decency might one day walk free is horrifying,” she said while delivering a victim impact statement in court on Wednesday. “I worry about the safety of Eric’s boys, my daughters, my sister and myself. There is nothing Kouri will not do and no one she will not hurt to achieve her own selfish ends.”

Several other family members delivered emotional victim impact statements during the hearing, held on what would have been Eric Richins’ 44th birthday, while also asking for the maximum sentence possible.

In addition to the maximum sentence, prosecutors asked that Kouri Richins be ordered to pay restitution to two insurance companies totaling more than $1.3 million.

Defense says she’s not a ‘monster’

Defense attorney Kathryn Nester argued during the sentencing hearing that Kouri Richins is not the “monster” portrayed by the prosecution, while asking the judge to consider conduct displayed over the course of her life.

Nester described Kouri Richins as a “human being, a mother, a daughter, a sister, a friend, a person that has made mistakes,” but also a person who has “completed acts of kindness and love and care toward others, a person who’s contributed to her community, a person who even in the darkest time of her life, reached out to help others who were incarcerated alongside her, a person who unselfishly tried to ease the pain her family and friends experienced as a result of this case.”

Defense attorney Wendy Lewis read in court a letter written by Kouri Richins’ mother, during which she asked the court to hand down a sentence that reflects accountability but also “allows the possibility of a future.”

Her mother also called the conviction a “profound injustice.”

“I do not believe Kouri is capable of committing a murder,” she wrote.

Other letters by family members and friends in support of Kouri Richins were read on their behalf or delivered in court. She could be seen crying as her brother addressed the court.

“I miss your family, I miss our family,” her brother, Ronnie Darden, told the court. “We don’t, with 100% certainty, know what happened to Eric, no one does, but we do know, with 100% certainty, that it wasn’t caused by you.”

Lewis asked for a sentence of 25 years to life, saying, “When you put aside all of the media, all of the interest, and you look at the crime she is convicted of, this is an appropriate sentence.”

“A sentence of 25 to life is not a sentence that guarantees the release of Kouri Richins,” Lewis continued. “It is not saying that she even should be released. What it is saying is that the decision whether she should be released is a decision for someone else to make on another day — a day that will be at the minimum 25 to 30 years in the future, a future that could look very different than today.”

Prosecutors argued that Kouri Richins was having an affair and wanted a “fresh start” and to leave her husband — but didn’t want to leave his money. They said she was in “financial desperation” due to her house flipping business’ debts and needed a significant influx of cash immediately.

According to prosecutors, she believed she would have financially benefited from her husband’s death — without realizing that his assets were in a trust overseen by one of his sisters, Katie Richins-Benson.

The defense, meanwhile, said the case was “sloppy” and “driven by bias” and argued that the state failed to prove the allegations beyond a reasonable doubt. The defense called no witnesses.

Kouri Richins also faces more than two dozen charges in a separate case filed last year, including allegations that she committed mortgage fraud in 2021. The charging document alleges she submitted falsified bank statements in support of mortgage loan applications for her realty business, committed money laundering and issued bad checks. 

The charges in the case also allege she murdered her husband for financial gain as she “stood on the precipice of total financial collapse.”

She has not yet entered a plea to those charges.

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(NEW YORK) — The South Carolina Supreme Court has overturned the murder convictions of Alex Murdaugh, who was found guilty of killing his wife and younger son, finding that the court clerk’s “improper external influence” on the jury denied him a fair trial.

Murdaugh’s wife, Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh, 52, and younger son, Paul Murdaugh, 22, were found dead from multiple gunshot wounds near the dog kennels at the family’s hunting estate in 2021.

Murdaugh was convicted in 2023 of murdering them following a six-week trial, with jurors deliberating for nearly three hours before reaching a guilty verdict.

The South Carolina Supreme Court ruled that Murdaugh must have a new trial, citing the actions of former Colleton County Clerk of Court Mary Rebecca “Becky” Hill, the court clerk who served during the double murder trial.

Hill “egregiously attacked Murdaugh’s credibility and his defense, thus triggering the presumption of prejudice, which the State was unable to rebut,” the court’s opinion stated. “As noted at the outset, Hill’s shocking jury interference was accomplished outside the presence and knowledge of the outstanding trial judge and superbly competent and professional counsel for the State and the defense.”

In a footnote, the justices said they “commend the post-trial court, which inherited Murdaugh’s motion for a new trial and was placed in the unenviable position of evaluating unprecedented jury interference by a clerk of court within the context of a murky area of law.”

Following the decision, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said his office will “aggressively” seek to retry Alex Murdaugh for the murders “as soon as possible.”

“Let me be clear — this decision does not mean Murdaugh will be released,” Wilson said in a statement. “He will remain in prison for his financial crimes. No one is above the law and, as always, we will continue to fight for justice.”

Murdaugh was also convicted on several financial crimes following the murder trial and is serving a 27-year sentence on state charges and a 40-year sentence on federal charges related to those crimes.

In the murder trial, prosecutors made the case that Alex Murdaugh, who comes from a legacy of prominent attorneys in the Lowcountry region, killed his wife and son to gain sympathy and distract from his financial wrongdoings, while the defense argued that police ignored the possibility that anyone else could have killed them.

Murdaugh has continued to maintain his innocence. His defense alleged that jury tampering and evidentiary errors — including the inclusion of his financial crimes — denied him a fair trial.  

Murdaugh’s attorneys contend that Hill tampered with the jury by “advising it not to believe Murdaugh’s testimony and other defense evidence, pressuring it to reach a quick guilty verdict, misrepresenting information to the trial court in an attempt to have the court remove a juror she believed to favor the defense.”

During oral arguments before the state Supreme Court justices on the matter in February, the defense alleged that Hill tampered with the jury to ensure a guilty verdict because, they claimed, it would help her sell more copies of a book she would go on to write about the high-profile case. 

Murdaugh’s defense claimed that Hill influenced the verdict through remarks heard by some jurors during the trial, including in one instance to watch Murdaugh’s body language during his testimony, according to court filings. 

“The clerk of court allowed public attention of the moment to overcome her duty,” Murdaugh’s attorney, Dick Harpootlian, said during the February hearing.

Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters countered during the hearing that Hill made a “few fleeting comments” over the course of a six-week trial that included nearly 90 witnesses and almost 600 exhibits, arguing that they weren’t enough to influence the verdict. 

Chief Justice John Kittredge called Hill a “rogue clerk of court” during the hearing and said he wanted to make note that the “overwhelming majority” of clerks in the state are “dedicated, conscientious public servants” who “do not act like this.”

Hill resigned as the Colleton County clerk of court in March 2024, amid the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division’s investigation into allegations she may have abused her government position for financial gain.

She pleaded guilty in December 2025 to obstruction of justice, perjury and misconduct in office for showing photographs that were sealed court evidence to a reporter during the trial and then later lying about doing so on the stand during a hearing related to Murdaugh’s bid for a new trial.

The charges did not allege any jury tampering, and she denied any tampering with the jury during her testimony.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(NEW YORK) — Officials in Louisiana reached a tentative $4.8 million settlement on Tuesday evening with the family of Ronald Greene, sources told ABC News. Greene was a 49-year-old Black motorist who died on May 10, 2019, after an encounter with Louisiana State Police, where he was beaten and shocked with stun guns following a high-speed vehicle chase.

A spokesperson for the Louisiana State Police confirmed to ABC News on Wednesday morning that a settlement, which was first reported by the Associated Press, has been reached over Greene’s death, but said that the terms cannot be discussed since the negotiations are ongoing.

“LSP is unable to discuss the terms of the settlement at this time, as the process has not yet been finalized,” LSP Public Affairs spokesperson Lt. Kate Stegall said.

Greene was pursued by police after failing to stop for an unspecified traffic violation, leading to a car chase near Monroe, Louisiana. Greene’s mother, Mona Hardin, said that authorities initially told the family that Greene died when his car crashed into a tree, but body camera footage released amid public pressure nearly two years after his death showed his violent encounter with police.

The settlement would resolve a federal wrongful death lawsuit filed in May 2020 by Greene’s family against the Louisiana State Police.

According to Louisiana state law, the settlement would need final approval from the state legislature before it is finalized.

Five Louisiana law enforcement officers initially faced state charges for their roles in Greene’s deadly arrest, but several charges were dropped or reduced in this case.

Federal prosecutors informed Greene’s family in January 2025 that the Department of Justice had declined to seek federal charges in this incident.

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(NEW YORK) — The South Carolina Supreme Court has overturned the murder convictions of Alex Murdaugh.

The former attorney was sentenced in 2023 to life in prison for the murder convictions of his wife Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh, 52, and younger son, Paul Murdaugh, 22. Both were found shot inside their home in 2021.

The Carolina Supreme Court ruled that Murdaugh must have a new trial, citing the actions of former Colleton County Clerk of Court Mary Rebecca “Becky” Hill, who has been charged with perjury, obstructing justice and misconduct in relation to the murder trial.

Murdaugh’s attorneys contend that Hill tampered with the jury by “advising it not to believe Murdaugh’s testimony and other defense evidence, pressuring it to reach a quick guilty verdict, misrepresenting information to the trial court in an attempt to have the court remove a juror she believed to favor the defense.”

Murdaugh was also convicted on several financial crimes following the murder trial and is serving a 27-year sentence on state charges and a 40-year sentence on federal charges related to those crimes.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(NEW YORK) — A newly discovered asteroid will pass within about 56,000 miles of Earth on Monday, significantly closer than the distance between Earth and the moon.

There is no need to worry or cancel any plans, however. Current calculations show no evidence that the object will hit Earth.

The asteroid was identified several days ago by astronomers at five observatories, including Farpoint Observatory in Wabaunsee County, Kansas, and Mount Lemmon Observatory in Arizona’s Santa Catalina Mountains.

The asteroid, designated 2026 JH2, is likely between 50 and 100 feet across, according to estimates from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. That estimate is based on how bright the object appears and how much light scientists think its surface reflects.

Astronomers are still working to better understand the asteroid’s orbit and physical characteristics. So far, the object has been tracked only 24 times over several days. While its trajectory is still being refined, current calculations show no impact risk.

The asteroid is considered an Apollo-class near-Earth object.

“These asteroids have an orbit that is larger than Earth’s orbit around the Sun and their path crosses Earth’s orbit,” according to NASA.

The Virtual Telescope Project plans to stream the encounter live beginning at 5:45 p.m. ET on Monday.

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(DENVER) — The fatal collision in which a Frontier Airlines jet struck a person on the runway at Denver International Airport was a suicide, according to the medical examiner.

The man, who died of multiple blunt and sharp force injuries, has been identified as 41-year-old Michael Mott.

Mott was scientifically identified and police said they are talking to friends and family to better understand what had been going on in his life, the medical examiner said at a press conference Tuesday.

Mott was not an airport employee and no vehicle or bicycle was found nearby.  Investigators are still trying to understand what he was doing in the area, according to the medical examiner.

The runway where the incident occurred is about 2 miles away from the terminal and is very remote. Police have searched nearby farmland for any notes or items from him, but have not found anything, according to the medical examiner.

Denver International Airport officials said they have had fence jumpers before, but they are typically caught rather quickly. The airport got an intrusion alarm alert on Friday, but when they looked, they saw a pack of deer, which is common in the area. They could not see Mott, officials said.

It took 15 seconds for Mott to jump over the 8-foot fence with barbed wire. It took two minutes from that first moment for him to reach the runway and be hit, according to officials.

If you or someone you care about needs to talk, contact the free National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at 1-800-273-8255.

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