LOS ANGELES (AP) ― It was clear that Michael Jackson’s doctor was going to get the maximum four-year sentence for involuntary manslaughter before the judge even finished speaking.

In a nearly half-hour tongue lashing, Dr. Conrad Murray was denounced as a greedy, remorseless physician who committed a “horrific violation of trust’’ and killed the King of Pop during an experiment.

“Dr. Murray created a set of circumstances and became involved in a cycle of horrible medicine,’’ Judge Michael Pastor said in a stern voice.

Pastor said Murray sold out his profession for a promised fee of $150,000 a month when he agreed to give Jackson a powerful anesthetic every night as an unorthodox cure for insomnia.

Murray will likely serve less than two years in county jail, not state prison, because of California’s overcrowded prisons and jails. Sheriff’s officials said he will be housed in a one-man cell and be kept away from other inmates.