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Prosecutors OK with Conrad Murray serving less than four years

Dr. Conrad Murray received a maximum four-year sentence on Tuesday for his role in the death of Michael Jackson, and the deputy district attorneys who prosecuted Murray, David Walgren and Deborah Brazil, appeared on TODAY exclusively Wednesday with their reactions to the sentence.The sentence came after the judge proffered a 24-minute dressing down of Murray, and the harsh tone did not come as a

Dr. Conrad Murray received a maximum four-year sentence on Tuesday for his role in the death of Michael Jackson, and the deputy district attorneys who prosecuted Murray, David Walgren and Deborah Brazil, appeared on TODAY exclusively Wednesday with their reactions to the sentence.

The sentence came after the judge proffered a 24-minute dressing down of Murray, and the harsh tone did not come as a surprise to the prosecution. "He (the judge) had sat through the trial, had heard all of the evidence, he was one of the most informed people in regards to the facts of the case, and I think being aware of all the facts and all the evidence, he was rightfully offended by the actions of Conrad Murray and was expressing that," Walgren said.

Although Murray received the maximum sentence of four years, he is unlikely to serve anything close to that amount of time, a fact that the prosecution does not find disappointing. Brazil told Savannah Guthrie, "The judge clearly sent a message to Dr. Murray as well as any other physician by imposing the maximum sentence. The actual time spent behind bars is not a reflection of the seriousness of Conrad Murray's conduct."

Walgren agreed: "I think he certainly deserves the full weight of the punishment and he certainly deserves the full four years ... How much time he actually serves at the end of the day will be up to the sheriff."

Although the facts of the case were presented at trial, Murray gave the prosecution and judge fodder from outside the courtroom in the form of a documentary about the case, and accompanying interview with Guthrie -- an action that might have ultimately hurt him at sentencing Tuesday. "I certainly don't think it helped him," Walgren said. "I think the fact that in that interview he expressed a complete lack of remorse, a complete lack of personal responsibility, he blamed it again on Michael Jackson rather than himself ... that he Conrad Murray was the victim and not Michael Jackson, I think it showed a complete failure to recognize what he did."

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