Paris will most likely serve her prescribed time
in a cushy L.A. County jail like the one
in El Segundo overlooking the Lakers training facility.
Or, maybe the county will erect a temporary jail
just for her in Malibu - with a view, of course -
where they might put her to work washing cop cars
- with several beefy deputies closely watching her
every move, lest lovely Paris makes a break for it...
Los Angeles County Jail: Paris Hilton to pull 45 days
andrew.blankstein@latimes.com,
francisco.varaorta@latimes.com, May 5, 2007
Celebrity heiress Paris Hilton today was sentenced to 45 days in jail for violating her probation in a reckless-driving case. A Los Angeles judge handed down the sentence after prosecutors contended in a two-hour hearing that Hilton had violated her probation when she was ticketed in late February for driving a blue Bentley Continental GTC on Sunset Boulevard with a suspended license. Hilton, who said her aides did not tell her she could not drive, and her attorneys argued that it was a mistake and that her action did not warrant a jail sentence.
But
Superior Court Judge Michael T. Sauer rejected Hilton's plea, ordering her to report to Los Angeles County Jail on June 5. If she doesn't appear, the jail the sentence would rise to 90 days. Hilton appeared stunned by the ruling and began to cry. Hilton's mother also began to show her displeasure visibly, shaking her head -- and had be warned by a court official to stop. "I don't know what happened. I did what they said," Hilton said afterward. Her mother, Kathy, told the prosecutor after the judge's decision: "You're pathetic." Hilton, wearing large black sunglasses, exited the courthouse with her mother following close behind. Reporters shouted "Paris, how do you feel?" while others in the crowd cried out, "Paris, we love you!" Hilton did not respond. As she was hustled into a Cadillac Escalade, her flustered mother stopped to yell at the crowd: "I don't want to be asked about autographs," she said. "What a waste of taxpayer money!" Hilton had been serving 36 months of probation after pleading no contest to a charge of alcohol-related reckless driving related to her Sept. 7 arrest in Hollywood. She also had been fined $1,500. The reality TV personality was apprehended in the September incident after two Los Angeles Police Department motorcycle officers saw her Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren being driven erratically. They pulled the car over near the intersection of Selma and Wilcox avenues and performed several field sobriety tests before handcuffing and arresting Hilton, authorities said. So many celebrity photographers swarmed the September traffic stop that police had trouble doing their job. The surreal quality of the incident continued at the stationhouse, where reporters and photographers created such a ruckus that the watch commander warned that camera flashbulbs could cause accidents on the street. Inside, police did what they do in most cases, administering a Breathalyzer test to Hilton, which showed that her blood-alcohol level was on the wrong side of California's legal limit of 0.08%. Then, after the February incident, the city attorney's office had asked the Superior Court judge to jail Hilton for 45 days, saying she violated the terms of her probation for an alcohol-related reckless driving conviction. They also asked that she stay away from alcohol for 90 days, wear a monitoring device and have her license suspended for an additional four months. This afternoon's hearing was held at an obscure traffic courthouse south of downtown L.A. Toni Marabou, 39, who was at the courthouse with her son Richard Williams, 16, to pay his traffic ticket, said they saw Hilton as she came out of the courtroom after her sentencing and described her as looking calm. "I think it's very fair," Marabou said of Hilton's sentencing. "Even though you may be a high-end celebrity, it doesn't mean you can live recklessly. If she was drinking and driving and killed someone, then would she get a slap on the wrist? It's a lesson she has to learn." Besides, Marabou said, Hilton probably would end up serving only about 20 days. "Oh, well she'll just end up being the next Martha Stewart, I guess," she said. "It'll be a breeze, as long as she doesn't turn up her nose at the others there." Hilton arrived at the courthouse about 15 minutes late in the Escalade along with her mother. Conservatively dressed in a British jockey suit, with gray jacket and black pants, the hotel heiress appeared as stone-faced as during her modeling days in New York City during fashion week. But instead of gliding down the red carpet, Hilton made her way up the courthouse steps, roped off from throngs of reporters and photographers by yellow police tape. Members of the media clamored at the courthouse door as Hilton, her mother and several assistants made it through security and prepared to take the elevator to the courtroom on the sixth floor. Only about a dozen spectators or Hilton fans were on hand. Two teenage students from Santa Monica College said they were "morbidly intrigued" by Hilton's appearance. Rachel Chavarria, 19, shot photos of Hilton on her cellphone camera. She said she was there to pay a speeding ticket and had to wait 10 minutes to get into the building. "If she goes to jail, which she should, she deserves it," Chavarria said. "She had the money and should have called a chauffeur or a taxi, and that shows how stupid she is. It's like she's one of those celebrities looking to get attention at any cost." Her friend, Selene Sanchez, 19, was equally unimpressed with the media spectacle. "What it seems people care about more now isn't God, the war or poverty. It's about if Lindsay's on drugs, if Britney's shaving her head or Paris is going to jail," Sanchez said. "It's just absolutely disturbing to see what we care about now." Construction workers building a parking structure across the street from the courthouse yelled "Jail time!" to the group of more than two dozen TV crews who had gathered in front of the court before the 1:30 p.m. hearing. Some people who had other business at the court were not happy about how the courthouse was handling Hilton's arrival. "Upstairs, they are telling us how we should treat everyone equally with fairness and justice," said Rocco Jimenez, 21, a juror on another case. "Now, here they are shutting down one whole entrance for one person. It's ridiculous. This is the way we do
the justice system in L.A. There's no place like it."