Dr. Conrad Murray was finally sentenced Tuesday morning for his role in the death of Michael Jackson.
Murray was sentenced to the maximum four years for involuntary manslaughter as Judge Michael Pastor chastised the dejected physician with unprecedented furor.
Pastor called Murray “a disgrace to the medical profession” who engaged in a “continuous pattern of deceit.”
His tirade then took an almost Hollywood twist as judge Pastor focused on a cell phone recording Murray made of a drugged Jackson six weeks prior to his death, where Michael often slurred his speech as he talked of plans for a London concert series. Pastor suggested that if he and Jackson had a future falling out, Murray might have given it to a “media organization.”
He then went on to emphasize Murray’s statements in a British TV documentary that he didn’t feel guilty because he did “nothing wrong” and that he felt betrayed by Jackson to which Pastor exclaimed;
“Yikes! Talk about blaming the victim.”
Pastor further expressed disdain for Murray’s lack of remorse and often indifferent disposition by claiming he often expressed “umbrage and outrage.” He continued by stating;
“Dr. Murray is offended by that patient dying. To hear Dr. Murray tell it, he was just a bystander.”
During sentencing judge Pastor also stated that he’d have to send Murray to county jail rather than state prison because of recent changes in state law. Although Murray received the maximum four year sentence, he ironically may only serve half because of present prison overcrowding….or what others are calling ‘The Lindsay Lohan’.
County district attorney Steve Cooley said individuals like Dr. Murray are a key contributing factor to the number one cause of unnatural death in the United States: prescription drug overdoses.
“People like Conrad Murray, the so-called Dr. Feel good doctors who, because of their greed and selfishness, abandon ethics and put people in harm’s way.”
Murray, a 58-year-old cardiologist, has at least six children with his wife and one son with his mistress Nicole Alvarez. Katherine Jackson and various other members of the Jackson family exited proceedings stating that although they felt justice was served, they still believed the sentence was too lenient. Jackson’s children have been quoted as stating that when their father died they not only lost a playmate and a care giver, they lost their best friend as well. Sadly no amount of prison time can bring their father back, which makes it difficult to find any winners in such an unfortunate situation.
