But then there’s this:
“Princess Anne fined for speeding”
“The chairman of magistrates, Graham Sacker, said they had taken into account the Princess’ high means, and clean driving licence when deciding her punishment”
From here: BBC News | UK | Princess Anne fined for speeding
She was fined 400 pounds plus court costs. “High means”? What the hell does that mean?
See post #`19 by Bear Nemo for a good recap of what she did.
From the California Driver’s Handbook
So she could have gotten up to 180 days, but the court did not sentence her to jail time (From what I understand they often don’t with first offenders)
Se then got stopped and claimed she was unaware that her license was suspended (yeah right), she signed a doc saying that she knew her license was suspended. She then got stopped again, and claimed that she did not know her license was suspended. :rolleyes: Also at this point she had not signed up for the court ordered class.
Activities like this tend to piss off judges. Bottom line she gets to stay at a gray bar motel instead of a Hilton.
FWIW about 20 years ago, I had a cow-orker not complete a court ordered alcohol diversion program. The judge threw him in the can for 2 months.
Like I said, don’t piss off a judge.
Got enough dosh that 400 quid don’t signify.
Wasn’t she the one who got blitzed and drove the wrong way (opposing traffic) down the freeway in California after she was already on probation for a prior DUI?
45 days is not too harsh for someone who drives drunk.
That was Nicole Richie, I think.
Someone made a good point on another board: while there is never any excuse for driving drunk or being a PITA for the system, it’s interesting that Paris is being treated how she is.
Singer Brandy was involved in a car wreck that killed a young mother, but hasn’t been charged with a single thing. She wasn’t drunk, but it’s rare that a simple rear end accident just kills the person you hit. You’d think they’d charge her with something. Who knows, though.
A civil suit has been filed. The possibility of criminal charges is still pending:
http://www.showbuzz.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/04/people_hot_water/main2762257.shtml
Your point being that I should read the thread carefully before I pipe in with my 2 cents? Nonsense! What fun would that be? 
I contend that 45 days in the pokey is a bit harsh for a tender young thing like Paris; who knows what bad habits she’ll pick up from the more hardened miscreants?
[Creepy Middle-age Pervert]In the interests of the public, I volunteer to host her in our guest room should the judge be agreeable to house arrest. If my wife says it’s OK, that is… hehe… “hardened”![/CMAP]
Well, that’s a relief. I’d hate to see these women have big bear feet like mine.
There is a cut-off point – I seem to remember hearing 15 years for Texas when I was growing up there – where if your sentence is at least that long, they DO take you straight to prison from the court, because you’d be considered a flight risk. For lesser sentences, and especially misdemeanors, you’re given some time to get your affairs in order for while you’re away.
I’m having a really hard time finding something to be happy about here. My beef with Paris Hilton has always been that she’s gained an unfreakin’godly amount of press coverage for the most mind-numbingly mundane things imaginable (releasing a porn video online, appearing on reality TV, being a spoiled brat, that sorta thing).
How is a CNN article about a minor jail sentence not more of the same?
I’m not understanding, at all, why people think that 45 days for obviously flaunting the court orders and driving drunk is even remotely harsh.
My dad, back when he was still drinking, got 3 months for his first offense in Nevada. They also towed the car and arrested him on the spot.
Drinking while driving? Extremely irresponsible. It’s one thing if it’s just a little over the limit, like Paris Hilton was, so I can understand them just giving her probation and a suspended license. But she needs to know that it’s not acceptable to drive while drunk, and it’s ESPECIALLY not acceptable to ignore a court order. Being rich does not equal being above the goddamned law.
Everyone here who is saying that she’s being treated harshly might think differently if she, while ignoring court order, drives into your car while drunk.
As a side note, I know that a lot of judges will be a lot more lenient if you’re just truthful with them and don’t try to bullshit them. Back when my dad was just getting sober he went to court and the guy before him tried to bullshit his way out of jail and wound up getting the maximum penalty. My dad, up for the same thing, told the honest truth, something like “Yes, sir, I was drinking while driving. I don’t really have an excuse for you, I’m sorry.” He got two weeks in jail to work off his fine.
~Tasha
Yeppers, but she wasn’t driving drunk. She was driving with a suspended license.
Of course, I’d still be cheesed if she t-boned me while driving with a suspended license, also. I still say 45 days is pretty harsh. The lesson here: don’t piss off the judge!
But her license was suspended because she had been driving drunk back in September. So it’s one of those “instead of going to jail we’ll suspend your license and send you to class” deals - but she didn’t go to the class or stop driving, so the judge decided sending her to jail was the only thing that might actually do any good.
Think of it this way - the 45 days isn’t for driving with a suspended license. It’s for driving drunk. Since she refused to honor the terms of the fairly lenient sentence she got before (don’t drive, take a class), the judge is giving her a harsher sentence for the original crime.
Just thought I’d share this with everyone and beckon all to sign it. We must act before it’s too late!
FREE PARIS!
Wow, how many nanoseconds until the “Jail Paris Hilton” petition is set up?
Not many, I hope.
ETA: Actually, you should read that petition, it’s hilarious.
Help her out. Starve,her and dye her hair blonde. 2 out of 3 aint bad,
In my jurisdiction, 45 days would be pretty much what your average joe would get.
Bear in mind that she’s not getting 45 days for driving with a suspended driver’s license, she’s getting 45 days for violating the terms of her probation on her DUI. When she first pleaded, the prosecutor and defense attorney probably worked her out something like:
If she’d just wanted to take the jail time and be done with it, she could have done much less time, but she chose probation. The flip side of choosing probation is that if you vioalte it and get it revoked, you’ll do more time than if you’d just gone to jail in the first place, partly for wasting everyone’s time.
Then Paris violated the terms of her probation in one of the worst ways you can violate it: she got a new charge. Driving while license suspended sounds like a piddly charge, but it’s a misdemeanor, and it shows the court that you take your probabtion so lightly it hasn’t even dissuaded you from committing new crimes. Paris signed up for probation and up to 90 days if she violated it, did exactly that, and got 45 days.
Even her (and her mom’s) shock is pretty common. You wouldn’t believe how many people are shocked that one of the possible outcomes of violating their criminal probation involves their incarceration. Shocked, I say!
So… when is she actually going to jail?
-FrL-
She’s supposed to report June 5. She’ll have a cell by herself.
Pity. I’d like her to share a cell with “Big Mama” Rosie.