# Paris Hilton - Out of jail after 3 days??? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 7, 2007, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-hilton-out-of-jail-after-3-days/407113 "2007-06-07T14:11:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-hilton-out-of-jail-after-3-days/407113/141 "2007-06-08T20:51:54Z")
[QUOTE=Biggirl] Then you do not believe in the American penal system. The judge sets the rules, not the Sheriff. [/QUOTE] Inmates are released early all the time, most often simply because of overcrowding. In these cases, the sentencing judge does not send them back to jail. Why should Paris Hilton be treated any differently? Just because she is rich and was on TV doesn’t mean that she should spend anymore time in jail than anyone of us peons would, does it? [QUOTE=Biggirl] Which is why Sheriff Baca should be doing some of Paris’ time, if things were really fair. [/QUOTE] On this we agree. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-hilton-out-of-jail-after-3-days/407113/142 "2007-06-08T20:54:26Z")
[QUOTE=brad\_d] There are apparently separation-of-powers struggles going on here, which I do not presume to understand. Judicial branch imposes a sentence; executive branch carries it out if they find it convenient. Independent of Paris Hilton’s case, I’m gathering that this is common practice. The sheriff did not _release_ her, which it appears is routinely done without much comment from the courts. He changed the location of her confinement to one specifically prohibited by the sentencing order. Does that distinction matter legally? [/QUOTE] _Only_ if the specific sentence handed down by the judge says “no house arrest,” “no electronic monitoring devices” (or something to that effect), which you mention. Other than that, I’ve never heard of a judge getting involved in early releases in such \*relatively \* offenses or re-imposing a longer sentence because the gaolkeeper let someone out. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-hilton-out-of-jail-after-3-days/407113/143 "2007-06-08T21:06:51Z")
[QUOTE=DiosaBellissima] In fairness, no one knows for sure what the exact “medical reason” she was let out for was. It’s speculated that it was because she wasn’t eating, but no one actually knows. [/QUOTE] Whether she hungry or it was her herpes flaring up, I’m sure whatever “medical reason” she had could have been handled adequately at a correctional facility. Mine would be, and so would yours. That’s my big objection in all this. Your ass (or mine) would still be sharing a cell with Jimbo “Stabby” McCorkle, and nobody would think twice about it no matter how much we didn’t like it. If you didn’t eat, you’d get a tube. If you were depressed, you might get to see a pro bono shrink twice a month. But she’s special, and now she gets to suffer. Oh. Fucking. Wah. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-hilton-out-of-jail-after-3-days/407113/144 "2007-06-08T21:12:42Z")
[QUOTE=Merijeek] That’s my big objection in all this. Your ass (or mine) would still be sharing a cell with Jimbo “Stabby” McCorkle, and nobody would think twice about it no matter how much we didn’t like it. If you didn’t eat, you’d get a tube. If you were depressed, you might get to see a pro bono shrink twice a month. [/QUOTE] Ya gotta remember, she was in jail on a misdemeanor. Given the option of keeping Paris Hilton in jail or moving her out to make room for Thursday nights usual crowd of violent assulters, the sheriff probably made the correct decision. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-hilton-out-of-jail-after-3-days/407113/145 "2007-06-08T21:28:39Z")
[QUOTE=UncleRojelio] Ya gotta remember, she was in jail on a misdemeanor. Given the option of keeping Paris Hilton in jail or moving her out to make room for Thursday nights usual crowd of violent assulters, the sheriff probably made the correct decision. [/QUOTE] I thought it was a DUI. Is that a misdemeanor now? Even after a parole violation? -Joe ---
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-hilton-out-of-jail-after-3-days/407113/146 "2007-06-08T21:34:19Z")
I think the main issue here are that due process wasn’t followed. The sheriff released her without filing, and released her in direct contravention of the judges order. Yes, some inmates are released due to overcrowded, but I’ve never heard of a regular person being released because of some mystery ‘medical issue’. She did the crime, she can do the time. I hope it’s a lesson to all the Paris’ and Lohan’s out there. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-hilton-out-of-jail-after-3-days/407113/147 "2007-06-08T21:36:06Z")
For heaven’s sake, Paris! This is that opportunity you’ve been looking for to finish reading _Gravity’s Rainbow_ and Aristotle’s _Ethics_. ---
**Author:** ![Dob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Dob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dob)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-hilton-out-of-jail-after-3-days/407113/148 "2007-06-08T21:42:21Z")
No sympathy here for her. I find the whole thing incredible amusing actually. This is probably the first time in her entire life she didn’t get her way. I’m sure that would make her cry. The really funny part to me is that I dont remember her crying this much(at least in public)when a freakin porn tape of her all fucked up, blowing some guy, showed up all over the place! but put her in jail, under heavy security (shes in no danger from anyone im sure), for 45 days and her world is over. I mean hell, in those 45 days she will earn more in interest on her money then most people will in the next 10yrs. Cry me a friggin river. ---
**Author:** ![BlueSilver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@BlueSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlueSilver)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-hilton-out-of-jail-after-3-days/407113/149 "2007-06-08T21:46:08Z")
[QUOTE=UncleRojelio] Ya gotta remember, she was in jail on a misdemeanor. Given the option of keeping Paris Hilton in jail or moving her out to make room for Thursday nights usual crowd of violent assulters, the sheriff probably made the correct decision. [/QUOTE] She was staying in a special section of an all-female jail in Lynnwood that’s **reserved** for police officers, public officials, celebrities, and other high-profile inmates. Space was likely not an issue. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-hilton-out-of-jail-after-3-days/407113/150 "2007-06-08T21:46:35Z")
[QUOTE=Dob] The really funny part to me is that I dont remember her crying this much(at least in public)when a freakin porn tape of her all fucked up, blowing some guy, showed up all over the place! but put her in jail, under heavy security (shes in no danger from anyone im sure), for 45 days and her world is over. I mean hell, in those 45 days she will earn more in interest on her money then most people will in the next 10yrs. Cry me a friggin river. [/QUOTE] I’m not Paris Hilton or anything, but I’d be a WHOLE lot more torn up over going to jail than a sex tape. A sex tape leaking would be disconcerting and certainly not the ideal thing, so I’d be upset, but being in jail would tear me apart. I don’t even see how the two situations are comparable. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-hilton-out-of-jail-after-3-days/407113/151 "2007-06-08T22:18:58Z")
Multiple Paris threads, so I’ll be posting this elsewhere, too… [Radar](http://www.radarmagazine.com/exclusives/2007/06/paris-sheriff-took-hilton-family-cash.php) reports there was a potential conflict of interest between the Hilton family and the LA sheriff who released Paris that may be worth examining: > [@](#): > > Did family money buy Paris Hilton a temporary get-out-of-jail card? > > Sheriff Lee Baca, the Los Angeles law-enforcement official who ordered Hilton released from jail after serving only three days in her 45-day sentence, accepted a $1,000 campaign donation last year from William Barron Hilton—Paris’s grandfather. That contribution constituted the maximum amount allowable under California campaign rules. > > Baca has come under heavy fire for deciding to let Hilton serve out the remainder of her sentence at home, in apparent defiance of the orders given by the judge who sentenced her last month. Baca has said that Hilton was suffering from a “medical condition,” an explanation that has not fared well under scrutiny. This afternoon, Judge Michael T. Sauer ordered Hilton back to jail. She reportedly left the courtroom screaming “It’s not right! Mom!” > > In office since 1998, Baca has cultivated close ties to the Hollywood community. Others who donated money to his campaign last year included Rupert Murdoch, Les Moonves, Ron Meyer, Brad Grey, Steven Segal, and Burt Bacharach. He was assailed last year over a claim by the Sheriff’s Department that Mel Gibson had been arrested without incident, when the star had actually spewed anti-Semitic statements after getting pulled over for drunk driving. It soon emerged that Gibson had taped a public service announcement for Baca’s relief committee. > > Baca has not yet responded to a request for comment ---
**Author:** ![BlueSilver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@BlueSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlueSilver)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-hilton-out-of-jail-after-3-days/407113/152 "2007-06-08T22:30:54Z")
[QUOTE=DiosaBellissima] I’m not Paris Hilton or anything, but I’d be a WHOLE lot more torn up over going to jail than a sex tape. A sex tape leaking would be disconcerting and certainly not the ideal thing, so I’d be upset, but being in jail would tear me apart. I don’t even see how the two situations are comparable. [/QUOTE] Oh please. Again, she had a private cell in an all-female prison reserved for celebrities and high-profile criminals. She was hardly staying in “Oz”. The worst thing about it would be the boredom. The whole point of this exercise has been for Paris to take some degree of responsibility for her actions. The shame is, after all her sleazeball escapades she had a chance to earn back an ounce of public respect by lifting her chin up and serving her sentence like the 26 year old adult that she supposedly is. But instead, she continues to try and slither out of it by any means possible. Crying for her Mommy in court? A petition to the governer to commute your _DUI_ sentence? It’s embarrassingly pathetic and disgraceful. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-hilton-out-of-jail-after-3-days/407113/153 "2007-06-08T22:52:53Z")
[QUOTE=DiosaBellissima] I’m not Paris Hilton or anything, but I’d be a WHOLE lot more torn up over going to jail than a sex tape. A sex tape leaking would be disconcerting and certainly not the ideal thing, so I’d be upset, but being in jail would tear me apart. [/QUOTE] Somehow, seeing the words ‘leaking’, ‘sex tape’ and ‘Paris Hilton’ together make me throw up a little in my mouth. In my opinion, she acted in, directed and produced that video for purposes of distribution. [QUOTE=BlueSilver] She was staying in a special section of an all-female jail in Lynnwood that’s reserved for police officers, public officials, celebrities, and other high-profile inmates. Space was likely not an issue. [/QUOTE] Yeah, you got me there and someone else pointed out that she wasn’t released, she was under house arrest with an ankle braclet. Nonetheless, she did what was asked of her and was subsequently sent home. She didn’t escape, she didn’t jump bail, she didn’t ‘shank’ anyone in the shower. If the judge wants to send someone back to jail, let him send the sheriff. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-hilton-out-of-jail-after-3-days/407113/154 "2007-06-08T23:11:10Z")
I don’t get that. If a person has been sentenced and then improperly released, it doesn’t render the sentence null and void. It isn’t No Harm No Foul that they got released early due to improper procedures. They should still fulfill that sentence. For instance, if a sheriff accidentally released a Death Row inmate — let’s say it was Scott Peterson — then do you just say, “Oh darn, I guess we can’t execute him now. BAD sheriff! We’ll execute you instead and let the murderer go free.” No, we don’t. The prisoner serves the term for which he was sentenced. Any action brought against the sheriff for improper procedure is a separate offense. I just _know_ somebody is going to jump on my case for comparing Paris Hilton’s sentence to a murder case, but the point is, if that’s the proper solution when a prisoner is improperly released, it should apply uniformly no matter what the sentence or who the offender. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-hilton-out-of-jail-after-3-days/407113/155 "2007-06-08T23:24:37Z")
[QUOTE=Fish] I just _know_ somebody is going to jump on my case for comparing Paris Hilton’s sentence to a murder case, but the point is, if that’s the proper solution when a prisoner is improperly released, it should apply uniformly no matter what the sentence or who the offender. [/QUOTE] I was gonna respond for another round because there is a difference between keeping a murderer behind bars and keeping a housefly like Paris Hilton behind bars and sometimes I just like arguing for the sake of arguing, but I’m all done now. Even arguing for the sake of arguing loses some of it’s appeal when Paris Hilton is involved. ---
**Author:** ![BlueSilver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@BlueSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlueSilver)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-hilton-out-of-jail-after-3-days/407113/156 "2007-06-08T23:56:57Z")
[QUOTE=UncleRojelio] Yeah, you got me there and someone else pointed out that she wasn’t released, she was under house arrest with an ankle braclet. Nonetheless, she did what was asked of her and was subsequently sent home. She didn’t escape, she didn’t jump bail, she didn’t ‘shank’ anyone in the shower. If the judge wants to send someone back to jail, let him send the sheriff. [/QUOTE] No, but it is definitely starting to appear that her family leaned on the sheriff’s office to get her out of there ASAP. The sheriff holds an elected office and the Hilton family is one of his biggest donators. And from day one the sheriff’s office has been curiously bending over backwards to make Paris’ stay a trip to Disneyland. "I’ll tell you what Paris, if you check in right before midnight and check out right after midnight, we’ll just go ahead and count those as full extra days towards your sentence for you, Ok? " And the Sheriff’s dept was supposed to provide the report on her mysterious “medical situation” (aka: IDontLikeBeingInJailitis) to the judge before her house arrest release which was _explicitely forbidden_ in her sentence. But the report wasn’t provided, and they still hadn’t provided it at her hearing this morning. That’s why the judge got steamed and rightly called shenanagins on the whole affair and now Paris is back in jail and the Sheriff may be facing a corruption investigation. That’s why Paris is so upset. Because it was just today, that things stopped going according to plan. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2007, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-hilton-out-of-jail-after-3-days/407113/157 "2007-06-09T00:06:30Z")
Fine, whatever, send Paris back to jail and let [this murderer](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070608/ap_on_re_us/minister_slain) out after 300 days. That will set all that is wrong with the world right again. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2007, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-hilton-out-of-jail-after-3-days/407113/158 "2007-06-09T00:16:41Z")
Thanks for that, because it’s obvious that everybody in this thread was advocating for the release of murderers onto the streets. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2007, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-hilton-out-of-jail-after-3-days/407113/159 "2007-06-09T00:34:24Z")
[QUOTE=UncleRojelio] Fine, whatever, send Paris back to jail and let [this murderer](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070608/ap_on_re_us/minister_slain) out after 300 days. That will set all that is wrong with the world right again. [/QUOTE] It’s true. For every day Paris must endure in the hell that is her prison cell, God frees one murder. The world has gone to hell in a handbasket. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2007, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-hilton-out-of-jail-after-3-days/407113/160 "2007-06-09T01:01:40Z")
I’ve not an ounce of sympathy for her. I’m glad she has to serve the full 45 days. She deserves a longer sentence. I do wonder if the sheriff gets to keep the bribe, though. I have to wonder, too, about what’s going on behind the scenes. Clearly, the sheriff is in the Hilton camp. Just the reduction in her sentence was probably the result of another “campaign contribution.” The judge may be trying to circumvent the sheriff’s misdeeds rather than just being mean. Who knows? Maybe the judge would by now like to go after the sheriff for something but can’t because of some arcane political maneuverings. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-hilton-out-of-jail-after-3-days/407113.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-hilton-out-of-jail-after-3-days/407113.md?page=9)