Paris Hilton appeals jail sentence

Posted by Amber Nasrulla May 9, 2007

Somewhere in L.A. Paris is burning. (And no, I’m not suggesting her supporters started the horrific fire in Griffith Park.)

Hilton’s defense team has launched an appeal after an L.A. traffic court judge sentenced her to 45 days in county jail for repeatedly driving while her license was suspended. And why was her license suspended in the first place? Because she’d been drinking and driving.

Not only has the socialite’s team filed a notice of appeal, Hilton herself has also appealed to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger asking for a pardon. As I wrote in an earlier blog, she’s supposed to report to a women’s correctional facility by June 5.

As far as I can tell, Hilton is just getting doing what she does best – generate buzz, get into the tabloids and bask in the publicity.

There are a couple of opposing petitions on web sites – some say Free Paris Hilton, while others say Jail Her.

Still other websites are joking that the Paris Liberation Front (PLF) will stop at nothing to make sure its spoiled rich brat queen never learns her lesson, I thought it important to point out a few obvious things.

Ignoring multiple parking tickets is one thing. Drinking and driving and then snubbing your nose at the law is another and it’s time Paris acknowledged that she’s not above the law.

I was hit by a drunk driver over the Christmas holidays in 2003. Yeah it was in Toronto and it had been snowing but the moron who ran a red light and hit my car didn’t stick around to see if I was OK. Luckily I got his license plate and the OPP arrested him at around 3 a.m. His license was suspended and he was given six months of community service.

I couldn’t stop thinking – what if he’d slammed into a minivan filled with a mom and dad and their kids. What then? It wouldn’t have just been me with minor whiplash. He could have destroyed lives.

Even before that incident I could think of few things as foolish as imbibing and then getting behind the wheel of a car.

In Hilton’s case it’s doubly stupid because she can afford to hire drivers, limos, whatever, round the clock. What business was she up to that was so important that, somehow, she didn’t bother to read the letters from the court or obey the most well-known traffic laws.

It’s said that ignorance is no defense of the law. In Hilton’s case, the ignorant should absolutely not be above it either.

I think the judge should have sent her to jail immediately. Do not pass Go. Do not start a petition. Do not appeal to the governor. Be an adult, acknowledge what you did and learn from it.