Celebrity Justice cuts both ways! In 2006, the actress Michelle Rodriguez, sentenced to 60 days in jail on a drunk- driving charge, spent just a couple of hours in the can before her lawyers got her released.

In pulling Paris from the house arrest granted by Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca and ordering her to serve out the entirety of rest of her term in prison, Judge Michael Sauer overreacted.
On May 4, a cruel and biased Judge Michael T. Sauer sentenced Paris to 45 days in jail on this dubious charge of violating her probation, a minor probation violation stemming from her recent reckless driving conviction. Forty-five days more than most other defendants would have received under similar circumstances.
Southern California lawyers realized that a 45-day jail sentence for driving on a suspended license is exceedingly harsh, impractical, and a punishment not befitting the crime. Paris was not receiving special treatment, but she was being “made an example of,” receiving a sentence far harsher than an ordinary person would receive.

Paris dutifully reported to the Century Regional Detention Center. After a few days in jail the Detention Center authorities released her, ordering her to serve the remaining 40 days of her sentence under house arrest. Paris was “reassigned” to house arrest, in a decision made entirely by the Los Angeles County Sheriff, Lee Baca.

Baca further justified his decision by explaining that Los Angeles County adheres to a “ten percent early release program.” According to Sheriff’s Department spokesman Steve Whitmore, most non-violent, misdemeanor offenders serve just ten percent of their sentence. “Under our 10 percent early release program,” Whitmore explained, “[Hilton] would not have served any time in our jail, or would have been directly put on [a] home electronic monitoring system.” Baca has also commented — when asked whether Hilton received special treatment because of her celebrity — “She got more time in jail [because of it].”

Paris or any other similarly-situated inmate should have served only about four-and-a-half days. If that’s true, then Paris’s release seems much less outrageous than many have painted it as being. The Rev. Al Sharpton denounced the early release, claiming it had “all of the appearances of economic and racial favoritism.” Obviously he had it out for Paris and needed some media attention.
Paris’ jail sentence was too harsh. When it comes to paying her debt to society, Paris has been overcharged.
It seemed Judge Sauer, in imposing an especially harsh sentence, was trying to prove celebrities are - or at least this celebrity is - not “above the law.” But to truly make the point that Paris ought to comply with the law like everyone else, he should simply have given her the precise sentence any other defendant in the same situation would receive. Fairness is fairness, whether the defendant is rich or poor.

A former district attorney, Robert Philibosian, also represented Hilton. He said that the law supports the sheriff in making an independent decision on her custodial situation.

Legal experts say that Hilton’s attorney, Richard Hutton, will likely file a writ with an appellate court, possibly the superior court’s appellate division, seeking an emergency hearing on whether the judge overstepped his authority in forcing Hilton’s return to jail after the sheriff released her to home confinement.

Paris’ sentence was disparate, and if she can prove that, she may have a big, fat claim against the Los Angeles City’s Attorney’s Office, as well as the Superior Court of Los Angeles and maybe even Judge Sauer himself.

Paris will still have to contend with legal immunities for prosecutors and judges, and with the fact that the singling out occurred on the basis of celebrity status and socioeconomic class, not based on race, sex or national origin, will make the case harder to win. Yet if the evidence shows a serious wrong was done to her, and she was treated far more harshly than others for no other reason that her famous name and her wealth then let’s hope she can find a cause of action to press, for that is simply unjust, and something our system should address.
“What’s annoying is all these people are going on television saying that she was drinking and driving,” said Nicky Hilton. “She’s not in jail for DUI. That’s a big misconception. She’s in jail for driving on a suspended license, just like the (City Attorney’s) wife was. … She got a 186-dollar fine,” she added.
The city’s top prosecutor’s office got Paris Hilton jailed for violating probation by driving with a suspended license and then condemned her early release.

On Monday, City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo was the one apologizing for keeping quiet about a 2004 accident in which his wife crashed his city-issued vehicle — while driving on a suspended license.
When Sheriff Lee Baca abruptly released Hilton from jail early, Delgadillo pushed for more jail time for the hotel heiress and filed a petition questioning whether the sheriff should be held in contempt of court.

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