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 is not enough for someone’s life.”
“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 spent 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.”
“Dr Murray was intrigued by the prospect and he engaged in this money-for-medicine madness that is simply not going to be tolerated by me,” he added.He said they would wait to see how long the County jail term was set at, before deciding whether to appeal.
Michael Jackson’s Estate, which manages his multi-million-dollar legacy, said in a statement: “The sentence imposed on Conrad Murray by Judge Pastor was appropriate and called for.”
In a statement read in court before sentence was passed, Jackson’s family said it was not seeking revenge.
“As Michael’s parents we could never have imagined that we would live to witness his passing. It is simply against the natural order of things,” it said.
“As his brothers and sisters we will never be able to hold, laugh or perform again with our brother Michael. And as his children we will grow up without a father, our best friend, our playmate and our dad.”
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