Hilton gives up appeal of jail sentence
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Paris Hilton's lawyers have dropped plans to appeal her 45-day jail sentence after learning that the amount of time the hotel heiress must actually serve will be cut almost in half, a court official said on Friday.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said on Thursday that Hilton would spend just 23 days in jail under state guidelines that give inmates one day's credit against their term for each day they serve, so long as they maintain good behavior.
Later Thursday, attorneys for the 26-year-old celebrity socialite filed a notice in Los Angeles Superior Court that they were withdrawing their earlier petition to appeal the sentence, a court spokeswoman said.
Hilton, who co-stars on the reality TV show "The Simple Life," was ordered earlier this month to report on June 5 to the Century Regional Detention Facility south of downtown Los Angeles to begin serving her sentence.
That facility houses 2,200 women. But sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said Hilton will be segregated from the general inmate population in a "special-needs" unit designed for such high-profile prisoners as celebrities, former police officers and public officials.
She will be confined 23 hours a day to an 8-foot-by-12-foot cell that she most likely will share with another inmate, he said.
Hilton's troubles began in September when she was arrested for drunken driving. In January, she pleaded no contest -- the equivalent of a guilty plea -- to a reduced charge of alcohol-related reckless driving. She was sentenced to three years' probation and had her license suspended.
But she was caught driving on a suspended license in February when police stopped her for going over the speed limit with her headlights out at night. A traffic court judge ruled on May 4 that Hilton's latest offense constituted a probation violation and sentenced her to 45 days in jail.
