Murray's attorneys presented the case that Jackson had injected himself with the powerful anesthetic. A California appellate court has yet to hear oral arguments in Murray's bid to overturn his conviction.

"He's prepared to keep fighting this as long as it takes," Murray's attorney Valerie Wass said ahead of her client's release.

AEG Live was cleared earlier this month, in a civil lawsuit brought by Jackson's children and mother, of negligently hiring the cardiologist. The jury in that case found Murray had acted outside of the role for which he was hired.

Wass has said the physician wants to practice medicine again after his release from prison.

Murray's license to practice has been suspended in California, Nevada and Texas, each of the states where he had been able to work prior to Jackson's death. His license in Hawaii lapsed in 2010.

Murray has kept his name in the headlines during his time in prison by releasing sometimes rambling messages to the media and granting live telephone interviews to NBC's Matt Lauer and CNN's Anderson Cooper within the past year.

In one instance, Murray began singing on Cooper's "AC360" program, and in another he told Jackson's teenage daughter Paris that he loved her like a father and recited part of Jackson's song "You Are Not Alone" in a message meant for her.

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