LOS ANGELES — Michael Jackson’s doctor will face the singer’s distraught family and ardent fans one more time when he returns to court for sentencing in the death of the superstar from an overdose of an operating-room anesthetic he was receiving to battle insomnia.
Prosecutors want Murray to get the jail term and ordered to pay the star of the Jackson family for loss of earnings, an estimated $ 100 million comeback to show that he was preparing when he died.
But 58 years Medic Ed Chernoff lawyer asked the court reports last week that his client be given probation and community service, noting that probably never practice medicine again.
"To subject this former doctor, described by all who know him as a gentle man who devoted his professional life to providing care to the underserved population, to a lengthy jail term would be wholly inappropriate," he wrote.
How long Murray might remain behind bars depends on the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, which would base the decision on good behavior and other factors.
Even without overcrowding and a new state law that will send Murray to county jail rather than prison, a four-year sentence could be cut in half by good behavior.
It remained unclear Monday whether Jackson’s family will speak during the sentencing hearing. His mother Katherine and several siblings routinely attended the six-week trial that ended with the conviction on November 7.
Prosecutors described Murray as an incompetent physician who administered propofol - a powerful anesthetic commonly used during the operation - in Jackson's bedroom without adequate security and botched his care when things went wrong.
The prosecutors also claim Jackson for three children and filed a declaration of the estate of the singer, with the cost of the funeral of the singer was more than $ 1.8 million. The letter also notes that Jackson would have earned $ 100 million if it had conducted a series of concerts scheduled in London comeback.
"Finally, the defendant complains constantly the victim of his own death," prosecutors said, "even going so far are characterized as being" captured "by the victim, and as someone who has suffered a" betrayal " in the hands of the victim."
Murray’s attorneys are relying largely on statements from his former patients to portray Murray in a softer light and win a lighter sentence.
“There is no question that the death of his patient, Mr. Jackson, was unintentional and an enormous tragedy for everyone affected,” defense attorneys wrote in their sentencing memo. “Dr. Murray has been described as a changed, grief-stricken man, who walks around under a pall of sadness since the loss of his patient, Mr. Jackson.”
Pastor also will review a report by probation officials that carries a sentencing recommendation. The report will become public after Murray is sentenced.
The report may also feature input from Murray, who chose not to testify in his own defense during the trial but was heard in a lengthy interview recorded by police.
Murray’s trial was closely watched by Jackson’s fans in the courtroom, on social networking sites and via live broadcasts online and on television.
The trial detailed the final hours of Jackson and portrayed him as a talented genius suffering from debilitating insomnia.
The singer selected Murray as his personal physician, and the doctor began giving Jackson nightly doses of propofol two months before the singer’s death.
Several doctors who testified during the trial, including Murray’s own hired propofol expert, said they would not have given Jackson the treatments in his bedroom and that Murray violated the standard of care multiple times.
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