Paris Gets Out of Jail: Judge May Throw Her Back In

Posted on June 7, 2007

Paris Hilton has had a really bizarre day. First she's let out of the hellhole of a jail she was in and sent to her house where she was supposed to wear a monitoring bracelet and not leave the premises for 40 more days.

The reason for the change was for "medical reasons" -- her family leaked that it was a rash, but jail sources say her psychiatrist said she was on the verge of a mental breakdown.

But now, an fame-seeking Los Angeles City Attorney named Rocco Delgadillo has filed a motion to hold the L.A. Sheriff in contempt of court and remand Paris back to county jail. The hearing will be Friday at 9:00 a.m. and Paris has been ordered to attend. The original judge in the case ordered her to spend 45 days in county jail, and hand wrote on the order that she couldn't do a city jail (pay jail, nicer conditions), work furlough or electronic monitoring. And although it's up to the Sheriff's office to decide when to release prisoners, the judge and the city attorney are going to the mat on this one.

Anyone remember Michelle Rodriguez of Lost, who had two DUI's? She served only a few hours of her sentence before being let go. But no one seemed to care. Paris Hilton is not a violent criminal and is no danger in society. Anyone who has lived in Los Angeles knows that there are so many more pressing issues to worry about than where Paris does her time. There are violent criminals that need to be locked up. First-time offenders with no record or flight risk are routinely given electronic monitoring, which is what should have been ordered in the first place. Paris was sent to jail for driving with a suspended license: 45 days in county is a ridiculously long sentence for that crime. And nonviolent offenders rarely serve more than 10% of their time.

It's irrelevant that she's famous or even that some people find her obnoxious. This is a case of a politician trying to make a name for himself. Her attorneys should appeal the whole thing, because the sentence is disproportionate for the crime. If she violates the probation again, drives drunk again or commits some other crime then she deserves the harsher sentence. But this entire matter has become a theater of the absurd. Paris Hilton is a promoter par excellence, just like Donald Trump. She's turned a stupid mistake (a sex tape) into a profit-making venture. She's made herself famous and makes plenty of money all on her own. But she's female, doesn't care what people think about her and she's not very nice -- so she's being persecuted. Judge Sauer didn't like her personally, so he ordered an inappropriate sentence -- and we find that appalling.


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