Doctor to be sentenced for Michael Jackson’s death
AP
Los Angeles (AP) – Michael Jackson’s doctor will face the singer’s distraught family and ardent fans one more time when he returns to court for sentencing in the death of the superstar from an overdose of an operating-room anesthetic he was receiving to battle insomnia.
Dr. Conrad Murray’s sentencing Tuesday for involuntary manslaughter is the final step in the criminal case launched within days of Jackson’s unexpected death in June 2009.
Prosecutors want a judge to sentence the 58-year-old Murray to the maximum four-year prison term. Defense attorneys counter that Murray already faces a lifetime of shame and diminished opportunities and should receive probation.
How long Murray might remain behind bars depends on the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, which would base the decision on good behavior and other factors.
Even without overcrowding and a new state law that will send Murray to county jail rather than prison, a four-year sentence could be cut in half by good behavior.
It remained unclear Monday whether Jackson’s family will speak during the sentencing hearing. His mother Katherine and several siblings routinely attended the six-week trial that ended with the conviction on Nov. 7.
Prosecutors portrayed Murray as an incompetent doctor who administered propofol