Michael Jackson’s doctor Conrad Murray was jailed for the maximum four years Tuesday over the star’s 2009 death, as a judge lashed the medic’s behaviour as “money-for-medicine madness”. While he is expected to actually serve less than half of that, Murray could also be forced to pay compensation to Jackson’s family, the judge ruled, after a prosecution call for the amount to be set at $100 million. Jackson’s 81-year-old mother Katherine hailed the sentencing, but added: “Four years won’t bring my son back, but that’s the law so… I thank the judge,” she said, adding: “At least he got the maximum. I thought the judge was very, very fair.”
In reality the medic – convicted of involuntary manslaughter three weeks ago – will spend much less than the four years behind bars, notably due to California’s prison overcrowding. A spokesman for the LA County Sheriff’s Department, Steve Whitmore, said Murray is expected to be left with “a little less than two years” in county jail. Judge Pastor, giving a scathing summary of the case against the 58-year-old doctor, said: “It should be made very clear that experimental medicine is not going to be tolerated”.
Murray was found guilty on November 7 after giving Jackson an overdose of the anesthetic propofol at the star’s plush Holmby Hills mansion on June 25, 2009. The judge said he agreed that Murray should have to pay restitution to Jackson’s estate and three children, and scheduled a new hearing for January 23 to decide the amount.
The prosecution had asked for Murray to pay $100 million to compensate Jackson’s family for the lost earnings the singer would have made from the London comeback shows. The demand, while wildly unrealistic, is seen as a way of ensuring that Murray cannot profit from his story and rebuild his life by selling his story in book form or otherwise.
