According to MTV:
Under the conditions of the plea agreement obtained by the Review-Journal, Hilton will face a year in jail if she is arrested during her probation for anything besides a minor traffic violation. The heiress is also required to pay a $2,000 fine, complete a substance abuse program and carry out 200 hours of community service.
While the probation will be unsupervised, she will have to complete a substance abuse program and perform 200 hours of community service. There's also a fine of $2,000.00.
The prosecutor sounds angry. Maybe it was the lie. If not, she's being treated much more severely than non-celebrity defendants. As I wrote here, prison was not an option under the original felony charge.
Paris seems to be taking it all in stride. After her court date in Vegas, she'll be off next week to Asia to launch her 2010 Fall/Winter collection of purses, watches and perfume, and open her 7th Paris Hilton Store in Jakarta. (Yes, Paris Hilton really works.)
Maybe I'm just paranoid, but if I were Paris, I'd have body guards around 24/7 for the next year to make sure no one plants something on her. No more unaccompanied visits to pet stores and Apple.
On a related note, Lindsay Lohan tweeted yesterday she failed a drug test and is ready to face the judge and go back to jail if necessary. She points out that drug addiction is a disease.
“Substance abuse is a disease, which unfortunately doesn’t go away over night. I am working hard to overcome it and am taking positive steps…forward every day. I am testing every single day and doing what I must do to prevent any mishaps in the future…This was certainly a setback for me but I am taking responsibility for my actions and I’m prepared to face the consequences.”
Why bother to write about all this? To point out that probation is no walk in the park. When you violate, the judge has fewer sentencing options and may be less inclined to exercise those that avoid jail again. Given the probability of relapse for those with drug dependency issues, before people accept deals offering probation, they should really think through whether they can toe the line for the duration. If drug use were not a crime, but a civil infraction or no offense at all, this could all be avoided. America cannot jail itself out of its drug use problems. Smarter solutions are needed.
