For most of us getting a DUI would be a nightmare. The total cost of > $10k (court fees + lawyers + mandatory counseling + higher insurance fees, etc.) would be a huge deal. For a Hilton, $10k is the equivalent of one of us reaching into a linty pocket and finding a penny.
For most of us, driving on a license that has been suspended is a big fucking deal. Besides the direct costs (20 years ago it was more than a grand), getting slapped with the ticket "driving while suspended" causes our auto insurance to double for the next 7 years. To many of us - this actually matters. Unfortunately, I know that of which I speak because 20 years ago my license was suspended without my knowledge (a lost fix-it-ticket became a failure-to-appear (FTA) which became a suspended license). I found out about it the hard way - I got pulled over on a routine stop two weeks before my birthday and got to spend the weekend in jail. Try explaining to the lady-friend that you know you are late for dinner but if she would just swing by the local jail and bail you out maybe you could still make the movie...
What is ironic is that I was suspended for more than 2 years before I was pulled over on that routine stop (again, I had no knowledge that I was suspended) - if I had made it another two weeks I would have gone into the DMV to renew and been informed that my license was suspended and I would have gotten it straightened out. Getting the FTA removed was trivial - the judge in Westminster charged me only $20 as I no longer owned the vehicle that the fix-it-ticket was for. The "driving while suspended" cost me more than $5k all told - and the DA cut me a "break" because my license was not suspended for any moving violations (DUI, wreckless, excessive speed, etc.).
Again - for most of us, this shit is a big deal. What a surprise that Paris Hilton (the single best example of why there should be a "death tax" on the sick rich) gets treated differently from a normal Joe like me...
The only thing Hilton is good for is the occassional low-quality bad sex-tape. Pray that she never has kids so that her genes may exit the pool.
Moose
