JOIN USAudio influenced judge to send MJ doc to jail
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 November 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.