'There is nothing you can do here today that will bring Michael back,' Joe and Katherine Jackson say in a statement read at Conrad Murray hearing.
By Andrea Duncan-Mao, with reporting by Gil Kaufman
Katherine Jackson arrives at the Los Angeles Superior Court for the sentencing of Dr. Conrad Murray on Tuesday
Photo: Toby Canham/ Getty Images
At Tuesday's (November 29) sentencing hearing for Dr. Conrad Murray — where Michael Jackson's former personal physician received four years in jail for involuntary manslaughter — a statement from Jackson's parents was read in court.
"We still look at each other in disbelief: Is it really possible he is gone? It is simply against the natural order of things," Joe and Katherine Jackson said in the statement, read by Jackson family attorney Brian Panish. "We are not here to seek revenge. There is nothing you can do here today that will bring Michael back."
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Along with Katherine, Michael's siblings LaToya, Jermaine, Randy and Rebbie were also reportedly in attendance at the hearing.
In regards to the sentence, the family said in the statement: "We respectfully request you impose a sentence that reminds physicians they cannot sell their services to the highest bidder."
The judge agreed, lamenting that due to a new California law to address overcrowding in prisons, he was unable to sentence Murray to state prison. Stating that Murray practiced "horrible medicine" and had "absolutely no remorse," Judge Michael Pastor declined the defense's motion for probation and handed down the stiffest sentence possible — four years — which Murray will most likely serve in a Los Angeles county jail or on home confinement.
Upon leaving the courthouse, Michael's brother Jermaine, when asked if the four-year sentence was enough, shook his head and said, "No." Katherine told local TV station KTLA, "Four years is not enough for someone's life. It won't bring him back. But at least he got the maximum, and I thought the judge was very, very fair."
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