Paris Hilton sentenced to 45 days behind bars

A judge in Los Angeles Friday sentenced Paris Hilton, the heiress to the Hilton hotel fortune and the daughter of real estate magnate Rick Hilton, to 45 days in jail for violating her probation in a reckless driving case.

In his judgment, Superior Court judge Michael Sauer ruled that the 26-year-old high profile celebrity heiress knowingly drove her blue Bentley Continental GTC with a suspended license when she was stopped by Los Angeles County deputies on February 27 for speeding and driving without headlights on.

Hilton was ordered that time to steer her car to the side of the road in Sunset Boulevard, and Sgt. Duane Allen Jr. of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department later impounded her $190,000 blue Bentley when they found her driving on a suspended license.

About five weeks before that incident Hilton was sentenced to three years' probation, which included the requirement that she "obey all laws," after pleading no contest to alcohol-related reckless driving deriving from a September arrest in Hollywood.

Testifying in her own defense before a packed courtroom yesterday, Hilton said she was unaware her license had been suspended. "I'm very sorry and from now on I'm going to pay complete attention to everything. I'm sorry and I did not do it on purpose at all," she told the judge before he imposed the sentence.

However, Judge Sauer rejected Hilton's defence that she didn't realize her license was suspended and ordered the blonde socialite to report to the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood, California on June 5.

Labeled as “Party Girl”, Hilton will not be allowed any work release, furloughs, use of an alternative jail or any electronic monitoring in lieu of jail, Judge Sauer ruled after a hearing. She was ordered to report to a women's jail in suburban Lynwood on the set date or face 90 days behind bars.

Witnesses inside the courtroom told the Web site Hilton's parents, Rick and Kathy Hilton, were both visibly upset as the judge ordered their daughter to begin serving her sentence June 5 at a county detention facility.

Paris Hilton was first arrested on September 7, 2006, when she was driving home in her Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren after attending a charity event in Los Angeles where she had one drink, a margarita. She was charged with driving under the influence of intoxicant and driving with a blood alcohol level over California's legal limit of .08.

However, at the scene the party girl claimed that she had just one margarita, and the high alcohol content in her blood was a result of having no time to eat during a long day while making a music video for her new album, Paris.

She had pleaded not guilty of drunk driving in January, and was sentenced to 36 months’ probation, alcohol education and $1,500 in fines.

Paris Hilton has been indulged in a number of cases. A Los Angeles party planner had accused her of bombarding him with angry phone calls, shoving him and threatening his life. In that case, a judge early last year ordered Hilton to stay away from the party planner. In June 2006, Hilton had a fender-bender accident when her Range Rover backed into a car in a parking garage after a shopping trip.

The life of the damsel has been in media spotlight ever since she entered the entertainment industry and has been subjected to criticism for her hard-partying lifestyle by almost everyone.

She is best known for starring in a fish-out-of-water reality show called, "The Simple Life" with a fellow heiress Nicole Richie, daughter of singer Lionel Richie. In November 2003, Hilton came in the headlines when a home video of her cavorting with her then-boyfriend Rick Solomon was published online.

Britney Spears and Paris Hilton topped the Former designer Mr. Blackwell's 47th annual "Worst Dressed" list and were described as "Style-free and fashion deprived” by the Blackwell.