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Murray Will Only Serve Half Of 4-Year Jail Sentence

LOS ANGELES (CBS) —  Dr. Conrad Murray, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Michael Jackson's 2009 death, was sentenced Tuesday to four years behind bars. He will also lose his medical license.

Judge Michael Pastor imposed the maximum sentence for Murray, but Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department spokesman Steve Whitmore says his sentence is automatically reduced to two years under Assembly Bill 109. Murray, however, will be required to serve all of his halved sentence, minus 47 days he has already served.

The prosecution has also requested that Murray pay more than $101,000,000 in restitution. A hearing will take place on Jan. 23 to determine how much he will owe to Jackson's estate.

"It should be very clear that medical experiments will not be tolerated, and Mr. Jackson was an experiment," Pastor told the court room.

Brian Panish, attorney and friend of the Jackson family, read the following statement:

"There is no way to adequately describe the loss of our beloved father, son, brother and friend. We still look at each other in disbelief. Is it really possible that he is gone? As Michael's parents, we could never have  imagined that we would live to witness his passing. It is simply against the natural order of things. As his brothers and sisters, we will never be able to hold, laugh or perform again with our brother Michael. And as his children, we will grow up without a father, our best friend, our playmate and our dad.

"We are not here to seek revenge. There is nothing you can do here today to bring Michael back. But we will keep the love in our hearts that Michael embodied throughout his life. His passion was for unifying the world through the gift of his artistry. We respectfully request that you impose a sentence that reminds physicians that they cannot sell their services to the highest bidder and cast aside their Hippocratic oath to do no harm. As we all know from this tragedy, doing so can have devastating results. The Bible reminds us that men cannot do justice, they can only seek justice. That is all that we ask as a family. And that is all that we can ask for here."

A jury of seven men and five women deliberated for less than two days before finding Murray guilty on Nov. 7.

Prosecutors argued that Murray acted in a criminally negligent manner after giving Jackson a powerful dose of the anesthetic propofol as a sleep aid.

The defense, however, maintained that Jackson took a deadly dose of the medication when Murray left his bedroom hours before the singer's death.

"Michael is watching over us," Jackson's sister, Latoya, tweeted earlier this month. "VICTORY!!!!!! Thank you EVERYONE for your love and support! It will ALWAYS be appreciated!"

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