im confused, i thought she was in jail for a dui, and i thought the jail time for a DUI was much higher then 3 days. I thought I heard she got the minimum sentance, and then got it reduced for "good behavior" when she showed up 15 mins late to court. ~gurkie
a: BMI is quantitative but that doesn't make it a better basis for determining one's ability to drive. BAC is obviously better and for obvious reasons, but "quantifiability" doesn't inherently make it better. - pierce
pierce: "seems like there would be a reasonable argument that your impairment was within legal limits even if your BAC wasn't" i doubt any lawyer has successfully argued that one. BAC is quantitative whereas impairment is not. ~a
mig: ah. - pierce
pierce: No, it was mentioned in another blog discussion. - mig
mig: you listen to rush limbaugh? - pierce
vinnie: thanks for doing the legwork I was too lazy to do myself. that kind of sucks, actually. I assume a high tolerance also means your motor functions are less impaired at the same BAC, not just that you feel less drunk. seems like there would be a reasonable argument that your impairment was within legal limits even if your BAC wasn't. - pierce
pierce: your tolerance does not affect your BAC, according to some quick googling. only how well you deal with it. in fact on the page I read, it said people with high tolerances need to be more careful about getting pulled over, becuase they may be at a much higher BAC than they realize (which is what the law looks at) - vinnie
xpovos or anyone who knows: does your personal tolerance affect your BAC per drink, or just how you react to that BAC? in other words, seeing as she's kind of known as a party girl, would she need more liquor to achieve the same BAC or would she just be less impaired? or is tolerance a myth? - pierce
anyway, the point of the probation system is to filter out generally lawful people with fluke infractions. continuing to drive with a suspended license and when she has the means to easily obey the law clearly indicated that she was repeatedly and knowingly violating it. a 45-day sentence doesn't seem way out of line to me. - pierce
I may have misread things, she may only have been caught violating her probation once, I think I misread her guilty plea in january as a separate incident. - pierce
but even if said info is 100% false, i still maintain her sentence was too excessive to begin with given the totality of her transgressions, and the fact that the judge seemed more concerned with flexing some muscle rather than being fair. - mig
pierce: no "official source", but it mentioned on Rush's show by a caller who claimed to have connections to the LA police dept. - mig
http://www.ou.edu/oupd/bac.htm This site indicates that BAC for an individual meeting Paris' specs (my estimation) will likely have BAC rise 0.03 per drink and be reduced by 0.03 for each hour after drinking begins. So three drinks, no waiting. -- Xpovos
a: 0.08 BAC is likely only two shots and limited waiting time, say under an hour. Paris is a relatively petite female, so she's gonna have BAC up faster than burly Joe. It might have been only one. -- Xpovos
but it's notable that what got her probation suspended was driving without a license (twice), doing 70 mph in a 35 with her headlights off at night. not DUI. I kinda don't get that... I assume she's wealthy enough to afford a personal limo so her behavior seems to be her flagrantly acting as if she wouldn't be held accountable for her actions. - pierce
mig: okay, I'd not heard that... do you have a source? as distasteful as I find her I don't want anyone to be treated more harshly as an example. - pierce
a: you should conduct some tests! - mig
how high is .08 anyways? i know that you get in "trouble" with levels lower than .08, but how many shots of jack does paris have to down to get up to a .08? ~a
I really dislike it when judges have this perverse desire to "make an example" out of someone, and this seeemed to be the case with hilton. - mig
even still, i thought her original sentence seemed to be excessive to begin with given the nature of her offence. - mig
an interesting tidbit i've heard during discussions on this subject is that the typical sentance for her particular offence for the "average" person is roughly 1-3 days in jail. Now, if that information is true, it seems this outrage is a wee bit misplaced, since her oriignal sentance of 40 days was obscenely excessive punishment to begin with. - mig
...as long as there was a ton of oversight to ensure they weren't just given a stay at the Hilton, so to speak. - pierce
and you know, I was even cutting her a little slack. I don't necessarily mind there being a "celebrity/special needs/police" wing in jails and prisons, because I think it would be just as bad to pretend that they wouldn't be singled out and harassed in the general population. - pierce
so I gotta say, this is the first time I've actually thought news about Paris Hilton was relevant to anything. I try not to be vindictive but it's truly revolting to me that on one of the rare occasions that a celebrity is held to the same standard of accountability, it's all thrown out the window so easily. - pierce