Decision Day for Conrad Murray

Doctor will be sentenced today in death of Michael Jackson.

ByABC News
November 28, 2011, 11:11 AM

Nov. 29, 2011— -- Michael Jackson's family is expected to watch from the courtroom as Conrad Murray is sentenced today in the death of Michael Jackson.

"I told them to be prepared for probation," Jackson family attorney Brian Oxman told ABCNews.com.

Oxman said the Jackson family has experienced a "whole mixture of terrible emotions." Originally, the family, including matriarch Katherine Jackson, wanted the book thrown at Murray. Now, post-conviction, Katherine and daughter La Toya are saying, "It doesn't change anything," Oxman said.

Though family members plan to be in court for the sentencing, scheduled for 8:30 a.m. in Los Angeles, Oxman is uncertain whether any of them will speak before Judge Michael Pastor.

The judge does reserve the right to turn off cameras during the hearing, such as in the case of Jackson's children Prince Michael and Paris, who saw their father unconscious, testifying. A court spokesman would provide no information on who will address the court.

Earlier this month, a jury found Murray guilty of involuntary manslaughter in Jackson's June 25, 2009, death.

"He's been serving his sentence since June 25, and it's more powerful than anything the judge can do to him," said Oxman, who first met Murray in UCLA's emergency room where doctors tried but failed to revive Jackson. "I saw a man who's life completely flashed before him. I don't see him as a cold, calculating killer. He did some horribly dumb things."

Murray faces anything from probation to four years in state prison.

"If the Anna Nicole Smith trial is any indication, probation is in the works," Oxman said.

In that case, prosecutors recommended probation for Smith's psychiatrist, Khristine Eroshevich, who was convicted of obtaining medication by fraud for the model who died of a drug overdose.

In Murray's case, however, the district attorney is asking for the maximum sentence of four years as well as $100 million -- the singer's projected earnings from the 50-show "This Is It" tour -- payable to the Jackson estate. The prosecution is also asking Murray to pay $1.8 million in costs associated with Jackson's memorial service and funeral.

In their memo to the judge, prosecutors paint Murray as a callous physician who knew he was doing wrong by administering propofol to Jackson, took pains to hide it and left his patient in a vulnerable state.

"The defendant [Murray] acted as a drug dealer and completely corrupted the trust necessary in a proper doctor-patient relationship," the memo stated.

Murray's attorneys filed a 45-page memo asking that the judge "impose a sentence of probation with substantial community service," taking into account that the doctor has no criminal record, will most likely never practice medicine again and has already been publicly disgraced.

The defense memo highlights Murray's humble beginnings in Trinidad and stresses his dedication to the medical profession and his love for his family, including his seven children, which has been "strained close to the breaking point." Along with it, the defense provides 56 pages of letters from Murray's former patients, family members and ministers.

Though Oxman has prepared the Jackson family for a sentence of probation, he thinks Murray will get at least some jail time -- a year, possibly two years, of which he'll serve at least half.

"If the judge was thinking of probation he wouldn't have remanded him to custody," Oxman said.

Murray was cuffed and taken into custody following the Nov. 7 verdict. He has spent the last three weeks in jail.