conrad murray secret video, Judge Pastor, presiding in the Los Angeles Superior Court, also gave his opinion on the great mystery of the trial: why Murray, 58, made a secret recording of Jackson slurring hopelessly while under the influence of the powerful sedative, Propofol."That tape recording was Dr Murray’s insurance policy," said the judge, who suggested that if the relationship between Murray and Jackson had soured, Murray would have used it as blackmail by threatening to sell it to a media organisation.
Michael Jackson, 50, died on June 25, 2009, after a two-month period in which Murray had signed on as his personal physician as the star prepared for a 50-date sell out concert series in London.
The judge said many other doctors had walked away from Jackson and that Murray should have done the same.
The judge condemned Murray for failing to get help for Jackson after he stopped breathing, and said he repeatedly lied to paramedics and emergency doctors who were trying to revive Jackson about the drugs he had given him.
Defence attorney Ed Chernoff finally conceded his client had acted badly. But he pleaded with the judge to look at Murray’s "book of life", rather than this one unfortunate chapter. Instead, the judge threw the book at Murray.
Requests by the prosecution that Murray pay more than $100m in restitution to Jackson’s family, including his three children, have been set aside for a later hearing.
Mr Chernoff argued that Murray would be better off serving the community on probation, but the judge refused.
The Jackson family had a statement read to the court, stating that they did not seek revenge but that the judge send a message to doctors everywhere "not to sell their services to the highest bidder".
Murray was ordered to serve his sentence in the LA County Jail, where he sees starlight on only one night each week. Because of overcrowding issues in California, Murray is likely to be paroled within two years.
In final submissions, prosecutor David Walgren said Murray has “grossly corrupted” the patient—doctor relationship by failing to put the safeguards in place when using Propofol.
"We know the defendant was playing Russian Roulette with Michael Jackson’s life every single night," Mr Walgren said.
But Mr Chernoff said Jackson was an established drug addict. "Michael Jackson was a drug seeker," he said. "He sought it out from Dr Murray. It was wrong to provide him but he sought it out from other doctors."
He said Murray had done great work up until the time he worked for Jackson, having been born in a "dirt poor" community in Granada where his family didn’t get electricity till he was 10.
Murray was "a poor black man from the Caribbean" who put himself through college and graduated magna cum laude.
Mr Chernoff asked the court to consider that no matter what became of Murray in the future, whether he was a barista or a greeter at Wal Mart stores, he would only ever be known for one thing.
"He’s still going to be the man who killed Michael Jackson," said Mr Chernoff.
The judge said this was not a case of medical malpractice but criminal homicide.
"The fact is that Michael Jackson died because of the actions of, and the failures to perform legal duties on the part of Dr Murray," said the judge. "Not some other medical doctor.
"Michael Jackson died not because of an isolated, one off occurrence or incident. He died because of a totality of circumstances which are directly attributable to Dr Murray."
He accused Murray of succumbing to "money for medicine madness" and said: "One can’t help but being offended by the circumstances in this case."
The judge said Murray’s secret recording bothered him most. "I have repeatedly asked myself why this happened, and for what reason," he said.
"It was designed to record his patient, surreptitiously, at that patient’s most vulnerable point.
"I can’t help but wonder that if there had been some conflict between Michael Jackson and Dr Murray at a later point in time in their relationship, what value would be placed on that tape recording if the choice were to release that tape recording to a media organisation to be used against Michael Jackson."
LA District Attorney Steve Cooley questioned whether Judge Pastor was correct in sentencing Murray to county jail rather than state prison, where recent history shows sheriffs release prisoners early because of overcrowding.
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