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May 8, 2007
Will we always have Paris (on appeal)?
As detailed in this AP article, "Paris Hilton's lawyers have taken the first step to appeal her 45-day jail sentence." Apparently, she may be gearing up to make an Eighth Amendment claim:
The 26-year-old socialite was ordered by a judge on Friday to report to a county jail by June 5 for violating the terms of her probation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case.... The hotel heiress, who parlayed her party lifestyle into worldwide fame, said she believes the sentence was unfair. "I feel that I was treated unfairly and that the sentence is both cruel and unwarranted and I don't deserve this," Hilton told photographers assembled outside her home Saturday.
Some related posts:
- Why do we worry so much more about sex offenders than drunk drivers?
- Undue leniency for drunk drivers?
- More discussion of leniency for drunk drivers
May 8, 2007 at 10:01 AM | Permalink
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Comments
She actually said "cruel and unwanted". Suprised that AP didn't add a [sic].
Posted by: Jay | May 8, 2007 10:18:23 AM
Pardon Paris!!!
www.pardonparis.com (I wish I had thought to register this domain name).
Posted by: | May 8, 2007 10:43:56 AM
har. Shorter appeal: "Obviously this is a miscarriage of justice. Everyone knows that the laws don't apply to rich white people."
Posted by: tekel | May 8, 2007 11:16:38 AM
There is an on-line petition to the gov. as well: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/PH21781/
The first paragraph reads:
Paris Whitney Hilton is an American celebrity and socialite. She is an heiress to a share of the Hilton Hotel fortune, as well as to the real estate fortune of her father Richard Hilton. She provides hope for young people all over the U.S. and the world. She provides beauty and excitement to (most of) our otherwise mundane lives.
Posted by: Anon | May 8, 2007 11:29:10 AM
Didn't Paris offer to eat a mouse if it would help Nixon?
Posted by: S.cotus | May 8, 2007 12:49:45 PM
S.cotus
She is 26 and Nixon resigned in 1974 seven years before she was born.
Posted by: John Neff | May 8, 2007 1:54:21 PM
I think 8th Amendment proportionality challenges should be reserved for people serving multi-decade sentences and life sentences for third-strike/habitual enhancements. Not 45 days in county jail. 45 days is not cruel and unusual for any sort of probation violation. It's only a constitutional violation (due process) if she is actually innocent. Paris is not saying she is actually innocent, only that she doesn't belong in jail (and frankly I don't believe she does).
While not an 8th Amendment violation, 45 days is a long time, even though we're used to measuring sentecnes in years. A month and a half being kept in a cell for 23 hours a day (which is what they plan to do to Paris Hilton). If anyone saw "30 days" when Morgan Spurlock spent 3 days in solitary, he started to go nuts after the first day. I hate paris hilton but she doesn't deserve that. She didn't hurt anyone, let alone intentionally. Solitary Confinement for a malum prohibitum victimless infraction (including drug laws) should be constitutionally suspect.
Posted by: Bruce | May 9, 2007 1:37:30 AM
Bruce, why do you "hate" Paris Hilton? She doesn't seem an evil person, just dissolute.
Posted by: | May 9, 2007 1:55:17 AM
The "solitary" that Paris Hilton would be in at a local jail would not be like the "solitary" used as discipline in a state prison.
It would not be a confined, sensory deprived space, perhaps naked; she might even have a roommate.
The segregation concern, for her own safety, is a jail gang hit or something similar.
Posted by: ohwilleke | May 9, 2007 12:20:45 PM
I guess "hate" is a strong word. I really just dislike her for who she is, what she does, what she stands for, and her wasting of oxygen. I also dislike the raccoon eating out of my trash, but that doesn't mean I want to see it tortured.
ohwilleke: the solitary Morgan Spurlock experienced was, in fact, in the county jail. I heard on the news that Paris would be kept in a cell by herself for 23 hours a day for her 45 day sentence. Now, I am sure it is the sort of cell where you can hear the other 4000 inmates screaming, rather than the soundproof sensory deprivation ones used in a SuperMax. But that's not what Morgan Spurlock was put in, either. I'm sure they will let her have clothes, it's rare that they actually take an inmates clothes; that's usually a suicide precaution.
Posted by: Bruce | May 14, 2007 5:19:13 PM
