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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
As a former defense lawyer, I did my fair share of DUIs. While I certainly don't have any details about Paris' case, it is patently obvious to me that she was singled out due to her celebrity status. Most first time DUIs DO NOT GO TO JAIL. This is ridiculous. We need to make a spectacle and a criminal out of a girl because she had a margarita and drove home? Give me a break. Call me when someone finally knocks you off your high horse and you fall into a big puddle of humanity. Then maybe we can talk about punishments befitting the crimes. It seems that the special treatment has not run in her favor, but counter to it. I would be very cautious before condemning poor Paris Hilton. In our infantile little peasant minds we desperately want to see the fall of our own aristocrats. It permits us to keep the illusion that our criminal justice system and criminal code is not broken. Yeah, we pitchforked the witch to death! Now what?
Dear chickpea23:
As a former defense lawyer you should be able to read and comprehend facts. I might not know what a light or heavy sentence is for DUIs, but I know how not to violate the terms of my probation.
Paris didn't go to jail for the DUI. If you'd read or comprehended any of the billion articles about the circumstances surrounded her arrest, you'd know that she was sent to jail for driving after her license was suspended because of the DUI. Also, not only had she done it once, but she was warned at least twice since she'd received probation. God knows how many times she's been stopped and let off the hook.
As rich as she is, why is she driving herself anyway?
And lets be clear, it was a freakin' DUI! If she'd killed someone what would your excuse be for sniffin' her butt then? Driving drunk is never cute. Not when my neighbor did it, not for the people who are killed because of it, and certainly not for Paris Hilton.
I dont' think Paris is evil or awful or this person who doesn't deserve respect. But she, like any of us, needs to follow the law. As such, it was no big deal to me that she went to jail. It happens. Like hundreds of thousands of other people, she'll do her time and get over it.
What actually got me watching and reading was the "get out of jail 'cause I'm stressed and have a mysterious illness" pass.
And now some of you want to act brand new like its Bash Paris week for stating the obvious that she was guilty of violating her probation and should have to go to jail for it! LOL
"And now some of you want to act brand new like its Bash Paris week for stating the obvious that she was guilty of violating her probation and should have to go to jail for it! LOL
Actually, I don't think that's the point. Not for this "some of you" anyway. She went to jail and was released early as is apparently the norm for other people in her situation. The ridiculous public "outrage" over, and interest in, her early release and the subsequent punitive mandate that she serve her entire 45 day sentence as opposed to the 23 days she was prginally scheduled to serve, as if she escaped or something, is what I have a problem with. PH should neither be above nor below the law.
The diappearing middle class has had enough of the rich getting richer. This is the beginning of the revolution. If the french had the internet 200 years ago we would see it beginning the same way.
Also, may I just say that all Paris has is money, where as the rest of us poor slobs at least have a high-school education, are functionally literate and can overcome adversity for the most part. I'd take life skills over money anytime.
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