Dr. Conrad Murray is remanded into custody after the jury returned with a guilty verdict in his involuntary manslaughter trial at the Los Angeles Superior Court on November 7, 2011 in Los Angeles
*Dr. Conrad Murray was placed on suicide watch at the L.A. County Jail on Monday, hours after he was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Michael Jackson’s death and being taken into custody.
As previously reported, Murray was placed in handcuffs immediately after the judge ruled he is to remain behind bars pending his Nov. 29 sentencing.
A law enforcement source, who spoke to the Los Angeles Times on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment, said Murray was placed on suicide watch once in custody.
The cardiologist, who had once told patients that working for Jackson was “the opportunity of a lifetime,” faces a maximum sentence of four years in prison. But Dr. Murray may spend as little as a few months behind bars.
Legal experts said that he was ultimately likely to benefit from a new California law that deals with chronic overcrowding in the state’s jails.
Trial judge Michael Pastor could sentence Murray on Nov. 29 to probation, home confinement or up to four years in state prison. He was found guilty of gross negligence by giving Jackson the anesthetic propofol — normally used to sedate patients for surgery — that was deemed the main cause of the Jackson’s 2009 death.
But California adopted a new law last month that sends low-risk prison inmates to county jails, and the officials who run Los Angeles county jails have been releasing inmates early because of a lack of space.
Beverly Hills-based defense attorney Mark McBride said Murray’s actual time served could be even less. That is partly because the crime of involuntary manslaughter is not considered a serious felony under California law, and carries a stipulation that only 50 percent of any sentence must be served behind bars.
Add in jail overcrowding and “what that means is that Murray could do three or four months,” McBride told Reuters.
Troubled actress Lindsay Lohan is one high profile example of the vagaries of busy Los Angeles jails. She was locked up for less than six hours of a 30-day sentence this past weekend for probation violations for jewelry theft and drunk driving convictions.
The three weeks that Murray will serve in jail before sentencing will likely be counted against any term he might receive, the district attorney’s office said.
It was breathtakingly stupid of Michael Jackson to sign for 50 shows knowing that he had a chronic sleeping problem. The rogue treatment with Propofol, “the magic bullet” was seemingly necessary; Michael wouldn’t have been able to do 1 show without sleep how could he have managed 50? The glaring reality is, Dr. Murray or not, Michael was doomed! He didn’t have the emotional intelligence to put everything aside and take time to heal, emotionally, physically and mentally. The quick answer that will solve Michael’s dilemma in his mind’s eyes was propofol and Co.
Although this doctor could not have prevented this boat to sink he has precipitated it by digging a bigger hole in the ship’s hull. Dr. Murray chose to be part of Michael Jackson’s vagaries for a big chunk of change under the guise of his medical license. The universe works in mysterious ways, isn’t it? Everything that could go wrong, went wrong, this is Murphy’s law in action. Dr. Conrad Murray is a truly disastrous doctor. This is gross negligence, greed, and it hits the level of criminality. Both men are self-made, and both men are guilty, one is dead, the other will probably be confined to a jail cell where he will be spinning on his butt trying to understand what went wrong. There is no room for softness, I can’t wait for the verdict!
Dr. Murray is not the only greedy man in the MJ saga. This is the crooked timber of humanity. In the crux of this drama I would like to jump from that into another shameful exploitation of MJ. A line of perfumes dedicated to Michael is about to be launched by Michael’s own father and a professional scam-artist who is much spookier than Dr. Murray, Julian Franck Rouas. This story will make your eyes curl up in the back of your head when you’ll read about the psychologically malevolent Julian Rouas and the Jackson Tribute Fragrances rogue operation. With no functioning conscience, they have even used Michael’s kids to promote the stinking perfumes. .. http://jacksontributefragrances.blogspot.com