Conrad Murray has been sentenced to four years in jail for the involuntary manslaughter of pop singer Michael Jackson.
The doctor has been given the maximum jail term, three weeks after he was found guilty of administering his patient with a lethal dose of Propofol. Before revealing the sentence at the court room in Los Angeles, reports Yahoo, Judge Michael Pastor said:
"Some may feel that this was a medical malpractice case. It wasn't. And this jury found that Conrad Murray, with criminal negligence, caused the death of Michael Jackson… The fact is, Michael Jackson died because of the actions of, and the failures to perform legal duties on the part of, Conrad Murray."
Murray has also been ordered by the court to pay Jackson’s three children an amount somewhere in the region of $100 million (£64 million), for their father’s funeral arrangements and loss of earnings for the This Is It concerts which were due to take place the summer after his death in June 2009.
A statement from Jackson’s family was read out to court. It said: "There's no way to adequately describe the loss of our beloved father, son, brother, and friend… We are not here to seek revenge, there is nothing you can do today to bring Michael back. We respectfully request that you impose a sentence that reminds physicians that they cannot sell their services to the highest bidder and cast aside their Hippocratic oath to do no harm."
CNN also reports that Judge Pastor said: "There are those who feel Dr Murray is a saint. There are those who feel Dr Murray is the devil. He's neither. He's a human being. He stands convicted of the death of another human being."
