Michael Jackson's doctor convicted of manslaughter - Xinhua

by Wang Jun

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- Dr. Conrad Murray, Michael Jackon's personal doctor, was found guilty Monday by a Los Angeles court jury of the singer's death, and was remanded in custody pending a Nov. 29 sentencing. His conviction spelled a victory for the Jackson family and his fans around the world.

Both the pop star's parents, Katherine and Joe Jackson, and fans gathering outside the Los Angeles Superior Court were thrilled by the long-expected verdict.

"We have been waiting for this moment for a very long time, and we couldn't hold back tears of joy in the courtroom," Mr. and Mrs. Jackson said. "Even though nothing can bring back our son, justice has finally been served!"

"VICTORY!!!!!!" is what LaToya Jackson, one of Michael's sisters, wrote on her Twitter account.

According to the verdict which was reached by a seven-man, five-woman jury, Murray, 58, was found guilty of Jackson's death on June 25, 2009, and he was immediately remanded in custody after the verdict was read at a downtown Los Angeles courtroom. The cardiologist, who appeared visibly shocked, was handcuffed and led out of the room to a county jail.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor said Murray was convicted of a crime "where the end result was the death of a human being." The doctor's "reckless conduct in this case" proved that he was a risk to public safety, the judge declared.

On Pastor's order, Murray was sent to the Twin Towers Correctional Facility and held in a cell in a medical section, away from the general jail population for his own safety, according to TMZ.com.

Analysts have been discussing whether Murray will get a maximum term of four years when Pastor announces his sentence three weeks later.

Robert A. Schwartz, a veteran Los Angeles criminal defense attorney, told Xinhua that by remanding Jackson's doctor to custody, Judge Pastor indicated that he will send Murray to jail for some time.

"I don't think the judge would have remanded him to custody, the judge will not give him the maximum sentence which is four years," he said. "I believe that the middle term on manslaughter is two years."

Steve Cooley, Los Angeles County district attorney, gave roughly the same estimate.

The legislation calls for some state prison inmates to be returned to county jails, Cooley said at a press conference held after panelists returned a guilty verdict and Judge Pastor ordered Murray be held without bail, which will probably mean that Murray will probably not serve "an appropriate sentence."

So it is unlikely that Murray will serve a lengthy term of four years behind bars, Cooley said.

Murray skyrocketed to international notoriety two-and-a-half years ago when Jackson, 50, died while rehearsing for his presumably final and soldout series of 50 concerts dubbed "This Is It."

While delivering the closing argument Thursday, Deputy District Attorney David Walgren called Murray's treatment of the pop icon "unethical, unconscionable, and an extreme deviation from the standard of care."

But defense attorneys argued that Murray, who was hired by Jackson for a monthly salary of 150,000 U.S. dollars two months before his death, was weaning Jackson off the medication.

For his part, defense attorney Edward Chernoff said the prosecution lacked proof that Murray had set up a Propofol drip the day the singer died, which in turn failed to hold Murray accountable for Jackson's death.

Conversely, prosecutors had sought to prove Murray had failed to properly monitor Jackson after giving him a lethal dose of Propofol. They said that the cardiologist "repeatedly acted with gross negligence, repeatedly denied appropriate care to his patient, Michael Jackson, and that it was Dr. Murray's repeated incompetence and unskilled acts that led to Mr. Jackson's death on June 25, 2009."

However, the defense attorneys who argued Murray was weaning Jackson off the medication said that the King of Pop killed himself inadvertently while self-administering a lethal dose of Propofol while Murray left the bedroom in the superstar's rented Holmby Hills estate for a short while.

During the six-week high-publicity trial, 49 witnesses, 33 for prosecution and 16 for defense, were called to the stand, and some 300 items of evidence were presented to the jurors.