Dr. Conrad Murray returned to court to find the sentence that was being handed to him by Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor. Murray did not speak during the hearing, merely staring straight ahead. Pastor had some harsh words for Murray calling his actions reckless and a danger to the community. Both Pastor and the prosecutors have had issues with Murray's apparent lack of remorse or acceptance of any blame in his actions.

The hearing started with attorney Brian Panish, a Jackson family friend reading a statement that reflected the thoughts and feelings of the family members. Katherine Jackson attended the hearing along with several members of the family including LaToya, Jermaine, Randy and Rebbie. Murray's mother, Mita Rush and his girlfriend also were in the court room. Before the sentencing began, Katherine Jackson had been interviewed about potential sentencing, asking the judge to give the maximum sentence allowed.

Murray had been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter earlier in the month- in a trial that focused on the testimony of a number of different experts. Also central to that trial was Murray's use of propofol in an inappropriate home setting. Most of the medical community said that it was a "bad" idea, especially since there was no resuscitation equipment in the home and Jackson was not being monitored as he should have been. On the day that Jackson died, he had been given a dose of the powerful drug, typically given during surgery situations as well as other drugs . Murray's defense team had contended during the trial that Jackson is the one that gave himself the lethal dose of the drug.

The defense also painted Murray as a pawn in a game that was run by Michael Jackson- alleging that Jackson had duped the doctor from the start by not revealing the extent of his drug use and how many doctors he had been seeing for his medications.

Pastor lectured Murray about the care that he had provided to the ailing singer, calling it nothing better than experimental medicine. He also called him a disgrace to his profession. Pastor also spoke about the recorded conversation of a rambling, barely coherent Jackson, allegedly taped via Murray's cell phone. The four year sentence is the maximum allowed for involuntary manslaughter under California. He may be released much sooner though because of the overcrowding in the jails in the state. Prosecutors filed papers on November 23 seeking to modify in hopes of sending Murray to prison rather than county jail time as well as a multimillion dollar restitution package which would seek to recoup some of the losses from Jackson's comeback tour as well as the cost of his funeral and memorial services.