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Conrad Murray Sentenced To Four Years For Michael Jackson Death

Tracy Bloom |
November 29, 2011 | 10:43 a.m. PST

Executive Editor

A judge on Tuesday morning sentenced Conrad Murray to four years behind bars for the involuntary manslaughter of Michael Jackson, the maximum sentence allowed under the law.

Murray did not speak before he was sentenced in a Los Angeles courtroom.

CNN reported:

Judge Michael Pastor, in a lengthy statement delivered before sentencing Murray for involuntary manslaughter, said he felt a significant responsibility to determine the appropriate sentence, utilizing his "sense of fairness and decency."

"There are those who feel Dr. Murray is a saint," he said. "There are those who feel Dr. Murray is the devil. He's neither. He's a human being. He stands convicted of the death of another human being."

Pastor said that while he had considered the entire "book" of Murray's life, he also had "read the book of Michael Jackson's life."

"Regrettably, as far as Dr. Murray is concerned, the most significant chapter, as it relates to this case, is the chapter involving the treatment, or lack of treatment, of Michael Jackson."

Jackson died "not because of an isolated one-off occurrence or incident," Pastor said. "He died because of a totality of circumstances which are directly attributable to Dr. Murray ... because of a series of decisions that Dr. Murray made."

In sentencing Murray, Pastor also said he considered the doctor's "pattern of deceit and lies. That pattern was to assist Dr. Murray," he said, calling him a "disgrace to the medical profession."

Pastor said he believed a tape recording of Michael Jackson slurring his words was an "insurance policy," and that "it was designed to record his patient surreptitiously at that patient's most vulnerable point." Paster also told the court he wondered whether Murray would have sold the tape if Jackson had not died.

The Associated Press reported:

Michael Jackson's family told Pastor they were not seeking revenge but wanted the doctor who killed the superstar to receive a stiff sentence that served as a warning to opportunistic doctors.

"The Bible reminds us that men cannot do justice, they can only seek justice," the family said in a statement read by attorney Brian Panish. "That is all we can ask as a family, and that is all we ask for here."

The statement went on to say, "We are not here to seek revenge. There is nothing you can do today that will bring Michael back."

Prosecutors had argued Murray should serve the maximum sentence, and for Murray to pay Jackson's three children more than $100 million in restitution. Murray's defense lawyers had requested probation.

It us unlikely, however, that Murray will serve out the entire sentence because of new statewide policies designed to ease prison overcrowding, The Los Angeles Times reported. 

The 58-year old Murray was convicted on the involuntary manslaughter charges earlier this month.



 

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