Conrad Murray was sentenced Tuesday to four years behind bars in the death of Michael Jackson.
Murray was convicted three weeks ago after a trial in which prosecutors successfully argued that Murray’s reckless use of the surgical anesthetic propofol to help Jackson sleep, without proper monitoring equipment, led to the singer’s death.
Testimony during the trial revealed that Murray gave propofol nearly every night in the two months before the singer’s death on June 25, 2009, as Jackson prepared for his comeback concerts set for London the next month.
Prosecutors asked for the maximum four years behind bars, and for Murray to pay Jackson’s children more than $100 million in restitution. Defense lawyers requested probation.
In a sentencing memo filed with the judge last week, prosecutors said Murray has “displayed a complete lack of remorse” about Jackson’s death, and is, “even worse, failing to accept even the slightest level of responsibility.”
Deputy district attorneys David Walgren and Deborah Brazil cited Murray’s decision not to testify in his own defense, even while he was giving interviews for a documentary that aired days after the verdict.
“In each of these interviews, the defendant has very clearly stated that he bears no responsibility for Michael Jackson’s death,” the prosecutors said. “Moreover, the defendant has continued to express concern only for his individual plight and portrays himself, not the decedent, as the victim.”
“I don’t feel guilty because I did not do anything wrong,” Murray said in the documentary quoted by the prosecution.
“Finally, the defendant consistently blames the victim for his own death, even going so far as to characterize himself as being ‘entrapped’ by the victim and as someone who suffered a ‘betrayal’
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article courtesy of CNN.com
