Richie out in a hour, Lohan in a day. Why?
By Jeffrey Jolson
HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 8/24/07 — There is a simple explanation why Lindsay Lohan and Nicole Richie are not being subjected to extended jail time as Paris Hilton was when she had to serve a 23-day sentence after her drunk driving arrest.
Reality TV star Richie was released in 82 minutes after checking into prison on Thursday to serve a four-day jail sentence on Thursday, hours after Lohan was sentenced to a day in jail for two DUIs and cocaine charges.
It is not special celebrity justice that the two actresses received Thursday, it was just the opposite, according to attorneys and law enforcement officials say both young women received the treatment anyone would get if they worked within the system and did not flaunt it as Hilton did in the eyes of an angry judge.
Hilton tried to challenge the court for driving on a license suspended after her DUI. She let it go to court, came in late, with a cadre of big-name lawyers and a screaming mother. Observing attorney John Pierson said at the time it “should have never gone that far and might better have been handled by a local attorney familiar with that court and judge.” And she should have been on time, humble and without an entourage.
That is how Lohan handled it. Her arrangement was made in judge’s chambers, not in an open court face-off, and many details had been worked out ahead of time in a plea bargain with the District Attorney’s office. She was humble, contrite and was presented by her attorneys as a young woman with a substance abuse problem better handled by extensive treatment and community service.
“(Lohan) is getting what everyone else would get,” Deputy District Attorney Danette Meyers said after an hour-long hearing in Superior Court Judge H. Chester Horn Jr.’s courtroom. Terms of the plea bargain were worked out in chambers.
The average person, at least one with a decent attorney, would have been able to negotiate something similar. And when she presents herself for jail, she could get a quick release as Richie did.
Richie also worked within the system, which allows short-term non-violent offenders early release due to Federal guidelines on jail over-crowding, always a problem in Los Angeles and other cities. The main difference from Paris’ attempted early release is she did not have a pissed-off judge determined to see her do the whole sentence.
“At this time, the criteria for a female arrestee sentenced to 30 days or less for a non-violent offense is as follows: the arrestee is booked, screened and usually released within 12 hours,” sheriff’s sergeant John Hocking said. “This procedure is based on jail overcrowding to manage population levels mandated by federal court guidelines.”
A statement from the sheriff’s department who runs the L.A. County jails said “Based on the mandated guidelines and Miss Richie’s 96-hours sentence, she will be treated in the same manner as other inmates with a similar sentence.”
In addition, the county jails do not even want celebrities in their jails, according to Sheriff Department sources. This is because high-profile prisoners need special attention, not because they deserve or ask for it. They must be kept separate from the prison population, given special exercise schedules, etc. Like a policeman or a heinous crime offender sent to jail, they can’t stand in the line for the payphone with inmates (hence Hilton’s much-maligned cell phone privilege) or be fed when or where other inmates do. Celebrities also seem to inevitably have special medical requirements. “If (Richie) had a miscarriage while in prison, could you imagine the lawsuit?” said one law enforcement source.
Richie is pregnant with rocker boyfriend Joel Madden’s child, had been due to emulate “Simple Life” co-star and friend Paris Hilton by serving a stint behind bars at Los Angeles’ Century Regional Detention Facility.
But after arriving at 3:15 pm Richie was freed at 4:37 pm under the local sheriff’s early release guidelines.
Richie was handed the sentence at a court hearing last month where the 25-year-old daughter of singer Lionel Richie was also fined 2,048 dollars and placed on probation for three years. She was also ordered to attend a drug and alcohol education program.
The waif-like celebrity was arrested on December 11 after police received reports of a car travelling the wrong way down a busy Los Angeles freeway.
She failed a roadside sobriety test and allegedly told officers she had taken the painkiller Vicodin and smoked marijuana.
She was later charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and an unspecified drug.
Richie’s co-star Hilton served 23 days in jail in June for violating probation by driving with a suspended license.
Richie arrived at jail with her attorney Shawn Chapman Holley and her boyfriend, Good Charlotte singer Madden. Her time at the Century Regional Detention Facility was spent getting booked, including taking a mugshot and submitting her fingerprints, Holley said.
She didn’t reach her jail cell.
“She was really treated like any other inmate,” Holley told AP. “I think every inmate in her position, with that type of charge, would have been treated as she was.”
Richie pleaded guilty in July to a misdemeanor DUI charge in a deal with prosecutors that helped her avoid a potential year in jail because it was a second driving-under-the-influence conviction.
Her first conviction was in 2003 for driving under the influence of alcohol.
AFP contributed to this report