Legal expert: Paris Hilton case harder to prove than it appears

Reported by LA Times / Edited by PHS

As Paris Hilton faces arraignment on a cocaine-possession charge after being arrested in Las Vegas, a legal expert says the case might be harder to prove than it appears.

Prosecutors in such minor drug-possession cases face several hurdles, and even when they do get a conviction, typically the punishment is drug treatment, said Dmitry Gorin, a former L.A. County prosecutor and well-known defense attorney.

“First they are going to have prove it's her purse and then she had custody of it,” Gorin said. “When it comes to celebrities, often assistants and entourage handle things like that, so it becomes harder to show they are the ones with the item.”

Gorin said Hilton's legal team may also challenge the cause for the search in the first place. Police said they pulled over the SUV that Hilton was in after smelling marijuana fumes.

He said that if her legal team can raise questions about whether the marijuana smell came from her SUV, they could get the evidence tossed out. Gorin said ultimately if prosecutors do succeed in convicting Hilton, the punishment would mostly likely involve drug diversion.

The defense lawyer says there are numerous arrests of this nature on the Vegas Strip (minus the celebrity) and most finish in some kind of diversion program unless the person has a lengthy prior record. Las Vegas police said they had enough evidence to arrest Hilton, but it will be up to prosecutors to file charges.

From: scot
Time: August 30, 2010, 5:35 pm

I cannot believe all the stupid stuff that’s coming out from this. It’s hard to know what to believe. Those wild party shots we had of Paris hosting parties during her summer away in Europe, was she really just drunk? I don’t know. It’s a bummer and the fact there are these really stupid excuses.. it’s just like rubbing salt into a wound and insulting peoples intelligence. It makes you question a lot of things

It’s nice to have perspective when it comes to this but as a fan it is frustrating and it’s so much harder to make a clear judgement with all this articles swirling around that are just being overwhemingly negative. The press turn into, in the words of Paris, hungry tigers whenever a situation like this happens.

I also just wanted to respond to other comments in a previous post. I wasn’t saying drugs are good or that it’s okay to use them, especially something like cocaine. They’re wrong, they destroy lives and in a perfect world, it would be great if people didn’t use them. I was just trying to point out that sometimes there are situations where you just need a little help. Having a can of redbull just doesn’t work and people like Paris are in an enviroment where they can get these things. Despite the fact that she’s already been in trouble with the law, I do think Paris would feel safe. She’s pretty much Las Vegas royalty and is dating another famous Las Vegas figure, I bet they naively thought they were fine to do whatever.

I actually haven’t watched majority of the stuff that came out of PHE, so I was unaware there were videos of Paris doing coke. But again, that was 10 or so years ago, don’t forget during those times Nicole Richie was almost OD’ing every weekend. But it does make me think, old habbits die hard and they are bound to come up again.

Whatever goes down, I hope that Paris is alright and I just plead that she doesn’t use her dumb character in an attempt to get out of this.

From: admin
Time: August 30, 2010, 9:16 pm

I know what you mean.

But you see the way the law works is that the accused is innocent until proven guilty. I’m not an expert, but I think the prosecuters must prove that the cocaine belongs to her without a shadow of a doubt, right?

The problem is that… we live in a sort of dumbed down society where the haters and the media can have some influence on celebrity justice. Like the jail sentence and the judge giving her a harsher punishment. The thing I’m most worried about is if it turns out that she’s guilty of drug possession, the judge might feel the pressure from the media and give her a maximum penalty, like last time.

And what most people don’t know is that the police in Vegas is very very strict and harsh. They use every opportunity to get you in trouble.

Anyway… it’s really sick to see how she’s so viciously attacked and hated. Can you imagine what she has to go through…

About drugs, if she really does it once in a while, I say she needs to stop. I’m just saying it for her own good.

From: Jen
Time: August 31, 2010, 7:31 pm

With Paris Hilton, people are out to get her because she is rich. She should know this by now.

It’s just a little bit of coke and I have no idea if it was hers or not.

But I do know that haters will jump at every opportunity to try and bring her down.

I feel bad for her because this is a huge hoopla, once again, over a relatively minor thing.