Dr. Conrad Murray’s defense team has brought out the big guns. The physician’s mother is among the latest of his friends, family, patients and colleagues writing to the judge who will decide Murray’s fate at sentencing today. Murray was found guilty this month of involuntary manslaughter in the June 2009 death of Michael Jackson, and Michael Pastor will decide how much time he does. He could get up to four years in prison … but will he? Not if his mother has any say in it. “Nothing like this has ever happened to him before,” asserted Murray’s mom, Milta Rush, in a letter obtained by E! News . “He has never been in trouble with the law before and I am barely standing, I am so scared and worried sick about him being incarcerated.” She may get her wish, despite what you might think. Even if Pastor gives him the maximum possible four years in state prison, California’s new realignment law allows many nonviolent offenders who otherwise would have been eligible for state prison instead to be remanded to county jails. Thus, it’s unlike Murray is going to state prison. The L.A. County Jail, a far less punishing environment, is the doc’s most likely destination after today. Moreover, as Lindsay Lohan has taught us, there’s little room in county jail either. He could do as little as 10 to 20 percent of his sentence, some believe. The sheriff doesn’t want him county jail, it is too much risk. So he is likely going to be entitled to some kind of alternative, work release or house arrest. Your tax dollars at work, Californians.
