Dr. Conrad Murray, convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the death of pop icon Michael Jackson, will have to remain behind bars while he appeals his conviction, a judge said today.
Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor denied the request of Murray's attorneys to release him on bail while he appeals his four year sentence. Pastor called Murray a flight risk and a danger to society if he ever practiced medicine again, the Associated Press reported.
Murray, 59, was not present at the hearing.
The former doctor of the King of Pop has been serving his four year sentence in solitary confinement at the Los Angeles County Jail.
Murray was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter for injecting Jackson with a lethal amount of the drug propofol.
Despite receiving the maximum sentence, Murray will likely serve only half of his four-year jail sentence due to a recent change in California law that allows non-violent felony offenders to serve their time in county jail instead of state prison.
Officials from the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department said the cardiologist would more than likely be released in two years due to factors such as jail overcrowding.
After Murray's November sentencing, District Attorney Steve Cooley said he was considering asking the judge to modify the sentence so Murray's crime could be reclassified as a serious felony, which would send him into the state prison system where he would serve the entire four years of his sentence.
"This is going to be a real test of our criminal justice system to see if it's meaningful at all," Cooley said at a news conference after the sentencing.
At Murray's sentencing, Pastor rip into the doctor calling his treatment of Jackson a "cycle of horrible medicine" and "medicine madness."
Murray treated Jackson like a "medical experiment," the judge said, which factored into his decision to hand down the maximum sentence.
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