Back in the Slammer, Again

Well, it seems that the judge in the Paris Hilton case was a peeved as the rest of us with the unilateral action of the sheriff, who released the heiress to home confinement with only an ankle bracelet to supervise her.

As news reports tell it, the judge, along with the City Attorney, were both incensed at the action, and called Hilton back into court today and ordered her back to jail. Superior Court Judge Michael T. Sauer was calm but apparently irked by Sheriff Lee Baca's decision to release Hilton three days into her sentence due to an unspecified medical condition. "I at no time condoned the actions of the sheriff and at no time told him I approved the actions," Sauer said. "At no time did I approve the defendant being released from custody to her home." (Source: Fox News) She, reportedly, broke down in tears and cried for her mother.

Paris has her defenders, or at least some who think her 43-day jail sentence was over the top. Their opposition holds that no one who had be found guilty of driving while intoxicated had ever gotten 43 days in jail before. They are probably right.

But Paris did more than just get convicted of driving under the influence; she broke the terms of her probation by driving on a suspended license, kept the judge and the rest of the courtroom participants waiting for 30 minutes beyond the scheduled start time of her hearing, and then had the audacity, or lack of sense, to tell the court that she couldn’t be bothered with reading court documents herself, that she had her people do it for her. Obviously, she had no idea what those documents said, and that likely meant that the judge had to take additional time to make her aware of what they said.

Given all of that, it’s no wonder the judge sent her to jail. I feel certain he was trying very hard to get the self-absorbed girl’s attention, and send her the message that just because she is rich and doesn’t use, or have, any common sense, or care much about things, the rest of the world does not recognize that she is as special as she thinks she is.

I don’t blame the judge for giving her a tough sentence, and I hope that living in these sparse conditions of the detention facility for six weeks will get her attention, and make her stop and think a little about what a waste her life has been up until now, and just maybe the experience will propel Paris Hilton to make something useful of herself.