Paris Hilton gets 45 days in the slammer

May 7, 2007

Los Angeles, CA - Heiress Paris Hilton has been jailed for 45 days after being found guilty of violating her probation for a drunk driving conviction.

Heiress Paris Hilton has been jailed for 45 days after being found guilty of violating her probation for a drunk driving conviction.

A Los Angeles judge ruled she must start her sentence on June 5th and has no prospect of an early release.

Hilton told the judge she was very sorry and that she would "pay complete attention to everything" from now on.

The socialite said she did not know her license had been suspended when caught driving without headlights in February.

According to papers filed in Los Angeles' Superior Court, Hilton was stopped by California Highway Patrol officers on January 15th and informed she was driving on a suspended license.

The 26-year-old then signed a document acknowledging she was not allowed to drive.

On February 27th, she was stopped by Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department for speeding on Sunset Boulevard with her car's headlights off and charged with violating her probation.

Although Hilton maintained she was not aware her license had been suspended, court papers said the document she signed in January was found in her car's glove compartment.

She was also accused of failing to enroll in an alcohol education program by a court-ordered deadline.

Hilton was sentenced to three years' probation, fined $1,150, and lost her license at the end of January after pleading no contest to a drunk driving charge in September.

Despite prosecutors saying the heiress deserved a jail sentence prior to Friday's hearing, Hilton arrived at the court at least 10 minutes late.

One of the world's most photographed women, her arrival attracted a swarm of paparazzi at a courthouse whose most glamorous work usually consists of dealing with parking fines.

Her mother, Kathy, laughed when the demand for a custodial sentence was made during the prosecution's closing argument and asked Judge Michael Sauer for his autograph.

"I'm very sorry and from now on I'm going to pay complete attention to everything," Hilton told the court before she was sentenced.

"I'm sorry and I did not do it on purpose at all," she said. But the judge was unmoved.

The 26-year-old heiress wept when the ruling was announced, and her mother shouted at the prosecutor: "You're pathetic."

One of Hilton's lawyers said the jail sentence was unfair.

"To sentence Paris Hilton to 45 days in jail to me was uncalled for, inappropriate and bordered on the ludicrous. I think she was singled out because she's who she is," Howard Weitzman said.

If Hilton does not report to jail on June 5th she will face 90 days behind bars.

Hilton, heiress to the Hilton Hotel fortune, first gained notoriety for her constant partying as a teenager.