JACKSON DOCTOR CONRAD MURRAY SENTENCED TO FOUR YEARS CONRAD MURRAY, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA DOCTOR CONVICTED OF THE INVOLUNTARY MANSLAUGHTER OF POP SUPERSTAR MICHAEL JACKSON, HAS BEEN SENTENCED TO FOUR YEARS IN COUNTY JAIL.

Murray was found guilty earlier this month after a six-week trial.  Judge Michael Pastor told the court that while Murray was legally eligible for probation, he did not think his actions showed he was suitable.

He said the evidence in the case showed a "continuous pattern of lies and deceit" by the disgraced physician.  The legal teams will return in January 2012 to discuss the prosecution's request for Murray to pay restitution to Jackson's family.  While the prosecution successfully argued for the maximum term, Murray's lawyers asked that he be kept on probation, saying he is serving "a lifetime sentence of self-punishment".
Defence lawyer Ed Chernoff said he would already be punished for life by being known as "the man who killed Michael Jackson".  In addition, Murray could still lose his licence to practise medicine.  Expressing their sense of loss for their "son, husband, brother and father", the statement said the court should impose a suitable sentence.
"We respectfully request that you impose a sentence that demonstrates that physicians cannot sell their services to the highest bidder and lose sight of their Hippocratic Oath," Panish read.  In a sentencing memorandum delivered to Judge Michael Pastor in advance of Tuesday's hearing, prosecuting lawyer David Walgren said Murray had shown no remorse for Jackson's death.  Defence lawyers argued that Murray had done a huge service to the community throughout his life, including donating supplies to Caribbean doctors and opening a clinic in the poorest area of Houston, Texas.
"I do wonder though to what extent the court considers the entirety of a man's book of life, as opposed to one chapter," Chernoff said, adding that Murray could better serve the community on probation.
Michael Jackson died on June 25, 2009 from an overdose of the powerful anaesthetic propofol.  He had been out of the public eye for several years but was preparing for a series of comeback performances at the O2 arena in London.
The defence argued that Jackson was a drug addict who caused his own death by giving himself an extra dose of propofol while the cardiologist was out of the room at the star's rented mansion in Los Angeles.
However, lawyers for Murray dropped a key argument midway through the trial - that the pop superstar had drunk the propofol.  But they continued to argue that Jackson had somehow dosed himself otherwise.
There is no law against administering propofol, but the prosecution's case rested on the argument that Murray was grossly negligent by doing so outside a hospital setting and without the proper monitoring equipment.
Calling for a four-year prison sentence, Walgren said Conrad Murray had abused the trust placed in him by his patient. "It is the people's position that prison is warranted." (BBC)

Audio helped sway judge to give Jackson doc jail

The voice of Michael Jackson helped put the man who killed him behind bars.
It wasn’t the familiar voice of hits such as “Billie Jean” and “Thriller,” but the slow, slurring recording of the singer that was found on his physician’s cell phone that helped convince a judge to sentence the doctor to jail for four years.
The four-minute recording was one of the blockbuster revelations of Dr. Conrad Murray’s involuntary manslaughter trial, a previously unknown piece of evidence that revealed an impaired Jackson describing his ambitions and aspirations as his personal physician listened.
It was also one of the trial’s most haunting moments, and stuck in the mind of Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor as he considered in recent days how to sentence Murray for causing Jackson’s unexpected death in June 2009. It wasn’t the only thing the judge considered — he unwaveringly assailed the cardiologist’s decisions and ethics for nearly 30 minutes on Tuesday — but helped convince Pastor to give Murray the maximum sentence.
Jurors unanimously convicted Murray on Nov. 7, but it was up to Pastor on Tuesday to sentence the doctor and explain his punishment.
“Of everything I heard and saw during the course of the trial, one aspect of the evidence stands out the most, and that is the surreptitious recording of Michael Jackson by his trusted doctor,” Pastor said.
Murray’s attorneys never explained in court why the recording was made, and prosecutors said they do not know what substances Jackson was under the influence of when the audio was recorded six weeks before his death. Murray had been giving the singer nightly doses of the anesthetic propofol to help him sleep.
The doctor’s time in a Los Angeles jail will be automatically reduced to less than two years due to laws imposed due to California’s prison overcrowding and budget woes.
Murray, 58, will have plenty of time if he wants to consider Pastor’s harsh rebuke of him. The Houston-based cardiologist will be confined to a one-man cell and kept away from other prisoners.
With Jackson’s family and Murray’s mother and girlfriend looking on, the judge called the doctor’s actions a “disgrace to the medical profession,” and said he displayed a “failure of character” and had showed a complete lack of remorse for his significant role in causing Jackson’s death.
“It should be made very clear that experimental medicine is not going to be tolerated, and Mr. Jackson was an experiment,” Pastor said. “The fact that he participated in it does not excuse or lessen the blame of Dr. Murray, who simply could have walked away and said no as countless others did.
“But Dr. Murray was intrigued with the prospect of this money-for-medicine madness,” the judge said.
Defense attorney J. Michael Flanagan said after the sentencing hearing that Murray made the recording accidentally while playing with a new application on his iPhone. He deleted it, but a computer investigator recovered it from the doctor’s phone after Jackson’s death.
Pastor said he believed the recording was made with more sinister intent.
“That tape recording was Dr. Murray’s insurance policy,” the judge said. “It was designed to record his patient surreptitiously; at that patient’s most vulnerable point.”
“I can’t help but wonder 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 organization to be used against Michael Jackson,” Pastor said.
Pastor said Murray was motivated by a desire for “money, fame and prestige” and cared more about himself than Jackson.
After sentencing, Murray mouthed the words “I love you” to his mother and girlfriend in the courtroom. Murray’s mother, Milta Rush, sat alone on a bench in the courthouse hallway.
“My son is not what they charged him to be,” she said quietly. “He was a gentle child from the time he was small.”
Of her son’s future, she said, “God is in charge.”
Jackson’s family said in a statement read in court that they were not seeking revenge but a stiff sentence for Murray that would serve as a warning to opportunistic doctors.
“We’re going to be a family. We’re going to move forward. We’re going to tour, play the music and miss him,” brother Jermaine Jackson said.
Defense attorney Ed Chernoff implored Pastor to look at Murray’s life and give him credit for a career of good works. “I do wonder whether the court considers the book of a man’s life, not just one chapter,” Chernoff said.
The judge responded: “I accept Mr. Chernoff’s invitation to read the whole book of Dr. Murray’s life. But I also read the book of Michael Jackson’s life, including the sad final chapter of Dr. Murray’s treatment of Michael Jackson.”
A probation report released after sentencing said Murray was listed as suicidal and mentally disturbed in jail records before his sentencing. However, Murray’s spokesman Mark Fierro said a defense attorney visited the cardiologist in jail last week and found him upbeat.
“That time is behind him,” Fierro said.
What lies ahead for Murray is more flogging, with medical authorities in California, Nevada and Texas looking to strip his medical license and Jackson’s father, Joseph, suing the physician for wrongful death.
Chernoff, who had advocated Murray receive probation instead of jail, said his client will forever live with the stigma of having caused Jackson’s death.
“Dr. Murray — whether he is a barista for the rest of his life, whether he is a greeter at Walmart, he’s still gonna be the man that killed Michael Jackson,” he said.
– Associated Press

Kanye gets 7 noms; Adele, Mars, Foos get 6 each

Adele scored six Grammy nominations on Wednesday, including for record, song and album of the year, but the owner of the 2011's best-selling album with "21" wasn't the night's top nominee — and that wasn't the evening's only surprise.

Kanye West came away with a leading seven nominations, including a bid for song of the year for his all-star song "All of the Lights." However, the album from which it came — "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy," heralded by many critics as the best album of 2010 — was shut out of the best album category, and all of his other nominations were relegated to the rap fields.

Other notable omissions in the top categories included country phenomenon Taylor Swift and veteran crooner Tony Bennett.

Bruno Mars and the Foo Fighters tied Adele with six nominations each, including in the album of the year category. Critical-darling folky act Bon Iver scored four nominations, with two in the prestigious record and song of the year categories; and dubstep star Skrillex may have been the night's biggest surprise, getting five nominations, including a bid for best new artist.

The nominations were announced after the Recording Academy's fourth annual live concert special, which aired on CBS from the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles. The hour-long event featured key nominees like Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Nicki Minaj and the Band Perry.

Even though Adele didn't get the lion's share of nominations, she got them where it counted: Her "21," the mournful post-breakup album that produced smash hits like the torch ballad "Someone Like You" — was nominated for album of the year. The searing groove "Rolling in the Deep," which spent seven weeks at No. 1 this past summer, got nominations for both record and song of the year. Only Mars got nominations in all three categories as well.

Other nominees in the record of the year category included Bon Iver's ballad "Holocene"; Mars' ballad "Grenade"; Mumford & Sons' "The Cave"; and Katy Perry's inspirational anthem "Firework." For song of the year, which honors the writers of the tune, contenders included "The Cave," ''Grenade, "Holocene" and Lady Gaga's "You and I."

The best album category was as noteworthy for who was excluded as it was for who was nominated. Lady Gaga garnered her third straight nod in the category for "Born This Way," while veteran rockers the Foo Fighters were nominated for "Wasting Light," along with Mars' debut album, "Doo-Wops & Hooligans," and Rihanna's steamy dance album "Loud."

Shut out were perceived favorites like 85-year-old Bennett, who became the oldest person to score a No. 1 debut when his "Duets II" album was released earlier this year, and the megawatt collaboration of Jay-Z and West with the heavily hyped "Watch The Throne."

The biggest snub may have been to Swift, who won in the category in 2010 and was considered by some critics to be a favorite for "Speak Now," which has sold 3.7 million copies. She did get three nominations, however, including for best country album.

Unlike the past two years, which saw Swift and fellow country act Lady Antebellum soar in the general categories, the only country act that got a mainstream nomination was the country sibling act The Band Perry. Best known for their poignant ballad "If I Die Young," they got a nomination for best new artist. Their competition also includes Bon Iver, Jay-Z rap protégé J. Cole, Skrillex and rapper-singer Nicki Minaj, who scored four nominations in total.

The 54th Grammys will be held Feb. 12 in Los Angeles. The ceremony will mark the first since the academy shaved its categories from 109 to 78 this year, amid some protest. Some of the more niched categories, like best Zydeco or Cajun music album, were eliminated.

In addition, men and women now compete together in vocal categories for pop, R&B and country, instead of having separate categories for each sex. This year, the category is best pop solo performance and Bruno Mars is the only man nominated for "Grenade." His competition includes Adele for "Someone Like You," Lady Gaga for "You and I," Pink for "(Expletive) Perfect" and Perry for "Firework."