Michael Jackson doctor Conrad Murray released from jail

Los Angeles, USA: Conrad Murray, the former doctor convicted of causing Michael Jackson's death, has been released from jail.

The former cardiologist served less than two years of a four-year sentence after being convicted in November 2011 of involuntary manslaughter.

Jail records confirmed Murray's release and the sheriff's office said he left a Los Angeles jail at 12:01 on Monday.

Jackson died on 25 June 2009 after receiving a lethal dose of the anaesthetic propofol from Murray.

The singer had been out of the public eye for several years but was preparing for a series of comeback performances at the O2 arena in London and Murray was serving as his personal physician.

Murray, 60, had been sentenced to serve four years behind bars, but a change in California law allowed his jail term to be significantly reduced.

Licence revoked

The former doctor's medical licences remain suspended or revoked in the US states where he previously practised medicine.

According to ABC News, Murray's legal team is filing petitions in Texas to have his medical licence reinstated.

"He's pretty confident that he'll be able to practise medicine again somewhere," Murray's legal representative, Valerie Wass told the US broadcaster.

Murray is also appealing against his conviction, although an appeals court has questioned whether it needs to hear the case.

Murray previously maintained clinics in Houston and Las Vegas and complained on several occasions about conditions in jail following his conviction and before his sentencing.

He was allowed to serve his entire sentence in a Los Angeles jail instead of a state prison due to a law which allowed nonviolent offenders to be moved to local prisons to limit overcrowding.

''Dr Murray has not received any special treatment in jail and in fact has many less privileges than most inmates because of his notoriety,'' Ms Wass said earlier this year.

She said he was "very much looking forward to his release and getting on with his life".

According to ABC News, Jackson's mother, Katherine Jackson, said the singer's family hopes Murray "can never practise medicine again and will not violate his hypocratic oath and hurt another patient".

She filed a wrongful death suit against concert promoter AEG Live LLC in 2010, claiming that the company was negligent in hiring Murray to tend to her son.

Earlier this month, the jury ruled in favour of AEG. It determined that Murray was not unfit or incompetent to serve as Jackson's tour doctor.

''That doesn't mean we felt he was ethical,'' jury foreman Gregg Barden said of Murray after the AEG Live verdict.

Murray told police he gave the pop star nightly doses of propofol to help him sleep but lacked the proper medical or monitoring equipment required to administer anaesthesia.

-BBC