Michael Jackson: No-remorse Conrad Murray gets a tongue-lashing
In this CNN screen grab, Dr. Conrad Murray listens in court today. Photo credit: Pool/Getty Images
In sentencing Dr. Conrad Murray to four years in prison, Judge Michael Pastor ripped Michael Jackson’s physician in an electrifying display of fury today.
Oh, it was something to see.
Pastor condemned Murray’s “unacceptable, egregious” departures from medical ethics and “horrible medicine” in treating Jackson. Murray had been convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the singer’s death.
The judge declined to grant probation to Murray and described him as a danger to the community. Pastor blasted Murray’s “failure of character,” saying the doctor abandoned Jackson and treated the singer as an experiment.
There was a media angle as well: Murray’s words in a recent documentary came back to haunt him. Pastor criticized Murray for saying, in the film, that Jackson was responsible for his death.
“Talk about blaming the victim,” Pastor said. “Not only isn’t there any remorse, there is umbrage and outrage on the part of Dr. Murray against the decedent.”
What happens next to Murray?
On CNN, criminal defense attorney Richard Herman explained that the four-year sentence would be reduced immediately, under California law, to two years in county prison. Herman added that Murray is entitled to home confinement for several reasons: prison overcrowding, no criminal history and the listing of involuntary manslaughter as a nonviolent crime. County prison officials will determine Murray’s confinement, Herman added.
On CNN, legal analyst Sunny Hostin said Pastor’s “scathing, scathing” comments to Murray were something she hadn’t seen in a long time. “Quite a message sent from the bench today,” Hostin said.
Murray will probably spend months in county jail, Hostin predicted.
The sentencing was carried live on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News Channel. WKMG-Channel 6 broke in its regular schedule to carry CBS coverage.