Now BFFs Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton have one more thing in common—serving time.
Just a few hours ago the 25-year-old daughter of Lionel Richie pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of drugs and was sentenced to 90 hours in jail (roughly 4 days) and fined more than $2,000 by a judge who admonished her behavior.
According to news reports, the judge also gave Richie three years’ probation and warned her that if ever drove drunk again and killed someone she would be charged with murder instead of manslaughter.
Witnesses in the courtroom said the judge lectured Richie for “quite some time” regarding the charge that she drove the wrong way on a freeway. One media outlet reported that the pregnant reality TV star nodded while the judge laid into her.
“Someone could’ve gotten killed,” the judge sternly told Richie. “You need to understand that driving under the influence is extremely dangerous.”
Unlike her good pal Hilton, Richie was given the option of serving her time in a paid city jail, which is a bit more “luxurious” than a county jail. In addition, she was not given a surrender date, but was told she must complete her jail time before September 28th.
As for whether Richie’s unconfirmed (at least until she spills the beans to Diane Sawyer next week) pregnancy had anything to do with the plea deal, prosecutors told reporters they had no information about Richie’s medical condition.
In fact, in watching the video of Richie entering the courthouse (on the arm of her boyfriend/fiancé/baby’s daddy, Joel Madden) I couldn’t tell if she was in fact with child. She was wearing a loose-fitting black dress, and what’s more, she’s rail-thin to begin with it’s possible she could go her entire pregnancy covering her baby bump in loose-fitting outfits.
As for how this whole episode transpired–you’ll recall Richie was arrested last December after being spotted driving the wrong way on an L.A. freeway. At that time she also failed a field sobriety test. On top of that she was previously convicted of a DUI in June 2003. While California law states that repeat DUI offenders get a minimum of three months in jail, Richie’s sentence was reduced to only four days because she accepted a three-year probation term.