Los Angeles (CNN) -- Dr. Conrad Murray left
the Los Angeles County jail under sheriff's
escort, avoiding reporters and Michael Jackson
fans waiting for his release early Monday.
Murray, who served two years of a four-year
sentence for causing Michael Jackson's death,
was driven away in a sheriff's car for the
"safety and security" of the jail, sheriff's
spokesman Steve Whitmore said.
The handful of Jackson fans gathered outside
the jail accused the Los Angeles County sheriff
of showing favoritism to Murray by slipping
him out of the jail through a back exit, instead
of the door where freed prisoners normally
leave.
Murray, who the sheriff's spokesman described
as an exemplary inmate, was kept away from
the general inmate population during his two
years in the jail. He was also allowed to have
liberal use of a telephone inside his cell during
his last year.
Murray's lawyer told reporters outside the jail
that he would try to get his medical licenses
reinstated in California, Texas and Nevada so
he can resume the medical career interrupted
by his conviction on the involuntary
manslaughter in 2011.
A jury concluded after a two-month trial that
Murray's negligence led to Jackson's death
from an overdose of the surgical anesthetic
propofol.
The cardiologist, who was hired to
serve as the pop icon's personal
doctor for his comeback tour in
2009, told investigators he gave
Jackson nightly infusions of
propofol to treat his intractable
insomnia for two months so he
could rest for rehearsals.
Prosecutors argued that his negligence
included leaving Jackson unmonitored and
unattended while the powerful anesthetic was
being pumped into his vein through an IV drip.
Deputy District Attorney David Walgren,
arguing for the maximum four years in jail,
said Murray was "playing Russian roulette with
Michael Jackson's life every single night," by
using propofol to put him to sleep in "a
reckless, obscene manner."
Murray's lawyers unsuccessfully argued that
Jackson self-administered the drug while
Murray was out of his bedroom.
He remained unremorseful during his two
years in jail.
"My entire approach may not have been an
orthodox approach, but my intentions were
good," Murray told CNN's Anderson Cooper
interview last April.
He said his intentions were to wean Jackson
from propofol. He said he succeeded in
eliminating propofol from his insomnia
treatment three days before Jackson's death.
"I explained to Michael that this is an artificial
way of considering sleep. It was basically
sedation, minimal sedation," he told Cooper.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge
Michael Pastor imposed the maximum
sentence on Murray, even though the doctor
was technically eligible for probation.
Pastor, in a 30-minute speech explaining his
sentence, cited Murray's "pattern of deceit and
lies. That pattern was to assist Dr. Murray."
Jackson died "not because of an isolated one-
off occurrence or incident," Pastor said. "He
died because of a totality of circumstances
which are directly attributable to Dr.
Murray ... because of a series of decisions that
Dr. Murray made."
Murray, he said, became involved in "a cycle
of horrible medicine."
Jackson family members and fans have
complained that Murray should have been
prosecuted for second degree murder -- not
manslaughter.
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