Paris Hilton’s cruel and unusual punishment

Paris Hilton got busted for DUI a while back.  Then, she got busted for driving with a suspended license.  The judge gave her 45 days.  That part’s been written about quite a bit.  However, today, she fired her publicist who told her she could drive to work as being the reason she was driving in the first place.  Then she lashed out at the judge citing:

“I feel that I was treated unfairly and that the sentence is both cruel and unwarranted. I don’t deserve this.”

Well, let’s look at reality here for a second.  According to a web page or two, the penalty for driving with a suspended license in California typically is:

In California, it is a misdemeanor to drive without a valid driver’s license. Also, the law requires a driver to have his license in his possession while driving. Driving with a suspended or revoked license is a misdemeanor carrying a punishment of five days to six months and/or a fine of up to $1,000 for a first conviction.

Now, on the scale of the punishment, she got off with about 25% of the max.  Her argument’s  not going to buy much sympathy with me or the courts.  Especially considering she got off with no jail time for her DUI.  She SHOULD have gotten 4 months just for that.  So, what could have been 180 days plus 120 days, wound up being 45 days.  Nothing cruel or unwarranted here.  So, the bottom line of getting busted for driving drunk, then consulting a publicist for legal advice, and most likely caught driving for a questionable “work” trip is 45 days.  She got off lucky, I would have given her more.  Probably a lot more just for being stupid.   The sad part of all this is her response of “I didn’t deserve this” and blamed it on the judge and her publicist ( who oddly accepted the blame ).  Yes, she did.  She brought every piece of this on to herself.  She is the one who drove drunk.  She is the one who showed flippant disregard for the law by asking a non-lawyer a legal question.  She’s the one caught driving after dark with no headlights.  She deserved everything she got.  And, by playing the “blaming it on everyone else” card as so many spoiled rotten people do, she’s probably guaranteeing it will happen again.

She’s got more money than most of us will ever see.  She needs to hire a chauffeur if she’s not going to accept the responsibility of her actions.