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Paris Hilton Facing Felony Charges After Cocaine Related Arrest

Hotel heiress, and sometimes-actor, Paris Hilton is now facing felony drug charges after she was arrested last Friday on charges of cocaine possession.

According to the police report, Hilton’s vehicle was pulled over when a police officer smelled marijuana smoke coming from the SUV’s windows. Police were questioning the driver of the vehicle, her boyfriend, Cy Waits, when Hilton requested to be escorted to a bathroom at the nearby Wynn hotel to avoid a growing crowd. Officers agreed that removing Hilton from the scene would aid their investigation.

Hilton was taken to the Wynn security office bathroom when she reached in her purse, apparently for lip gloss, and a bindle, containing .8 grams of cocaine, fell out of her purse. Cocaine possession is a category E felony in Clark County, where Hilton was detained. It carries a maximum punishment of up to four years in prison and a $5,000 fine. First-time offenders may be offered probation.

Hilton was taken in to custody and released nearly three hours later, on her own recognizance, due to crowding in the nearby jail.  Also found in Hilton’s purse were credit cards, $1,300 cash and a broken tablet of Albuterol, a drug used to treat conditions such as asthma.

TMZ, the popular celebrity news website, has reported that the Las Vegas District Attorney, David Roger, has already filed a felony case regarding the matter. Roger is the DA who is responsible for incarcerating O.J. Simpson after he was arrested for a robbery that took place at a hotel-casino in Las Vegas.

Lisa Bloom, a CBS News Legal Analyst, says Hilton’s defense will face troubles due to her contradicting reports to authorities. “I’m sure her attorney at this point is saying, ‘Why did you talk at all to the police? You should have invoked your right to remain silent,’” said Bloom.

Hilton reportedly told officers that the purse was not hers and that she thought the cocaine was gum. “That is just logically inconsistent,” said Bloom. “She should have picked one or better yet, remained silent.”

However, Bloom also says that playing stupid may prevent Hilton from a possible conviction. “The police do have to prove that [Hilton] knew the cocaine was there. That it was either her cocaine or that she was knowingly carrying it. That’s called mens rea in the criminal law.” Bloom added, that if Hilton could prove she was ignorant of the cocaine in her purse, “she could have a defense.”

The celebrity heiress is no stranger to run-ins with the law. Hilton spent 23 days in the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood, California back in 2007 after being sentenced to 45 days for violating probation. Hilton was placed under probation after pleading no contest to reckless driving charges in January of that year.

09-01-2010

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Arizona's Immigration Reform Inspiring Other States

Immigration control in Florida may soon resemble the new legislation in Arizona. The Republican gubernatorial candidate and attorney general of Florida, Bill McCollum wants to see the controversial laws enacted in his state of Florida if he’s elected governor. And McCollum isn’t exempt to the controversy.

McCollum suffered backlash from the Hispanic Community after he introduced his proposal.  “Arizona is going to want this law,” McCollum said as “We’re better, stronger, we’re tougher and we’re fairer.”

The attorney general proposed law that would require immigrants to carry legal paperwork or face up to 20 days in jail. It would also subject illegal immigrants to tougher penalties.

The immigration law in Arizona has mustered up quite a stir. Foreign ministers of Turkey and Mexico have met to express their concerns over the new immigration laws in the state. Ahmet Davtoglu, Turkey’s foreign minister is concerned that the new law would lead to xenophobia.

Patricia Espinosa, Mexico’s foreign minister said that “human rights should be held above” the state’s concerns over illegals. Human rights are core to the opposition’s argument.

Utah was initially among the states that would pass similar legislation. Republican Governor Gary R. Herbert was even expected to sign such legislation. However, it seems that officials in Utah may have changed their approach to the issue.

“At one stage, all the talk was about an Arizona bill, it was just like a runaway train,” said Tony Yapias, a Latino community activist in Utah, and host of a popular Spanish-language radio show. “But I haven’t hear about that lately. Now there are other ideas, like a guest worker program, that have changed the direction of the debate.”

Herbert succumbed to the threat of boycotts in the state, claiming they could not be ignored. “It’s unfortunate, but that’s part of what is happening in the marketplace,” the governor said.

Last month, the names of 1,300 people suspected of being illegal immigrants were published. Yapias and Alex Segura, the founder of the Utah Minutemen Project, got together to protest the publication of the list, claiming that publishing the list was illegal itself. They called for the debate to be conducted to be in a “more civil manner.”

It remains to be seen whether or not the new immigration law will be taken in states all over the country. Even in Arizona, specifics on Arizona’s bill have yet to be approved.

Governor Herbert is now working with leaders to create a guest worker program, which has been backed by the state’s Chamber of Commerce, Utah’s Attorney General, and Republican senator Howard Stephenson.

“Everyone who has an interest in this issue needs to be at the table to express their points of view,” said Governor Hubert in an interview. “If we do that, then I think the process will lead us to a conclusion, and hopefully a consensus conclusion – that almost everyone can feel good about.”

08-16-2010

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Prop 8 Goes On

Although a federal judge overturned proposition 8, California's ban of same-sex marriage, gays and lesbians may have a long battle ahead of them before the county clerk's office starts issuing them marriage licenses. Some analysts say that same-sex couples in California could be waiting over a year before they have the right to marry, if ever.

However, opponents of Prop 8 may have a solid case on their hands. Vikram Amar, a law professor at UC Davis, explained that, ''The Challengers to Proposition 8 argue that the change that it makes is so fundamental that it ought to be considered a revision, not an amendment.And because the legislature did not initiate Proposition 8, then it's
invalid, because it didn't go through the right procedure.'' On the other hand, Amar also warned that ''litigation doesn't resolve things until it's run its course.''

After Judge Walker's ruling on Wednesday, supporters of defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman immediately filed an appeal to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. They also asked for astay, keeping gays and lesbians from marrying until after the appeal.

Judge Walker ordered a temporary stay on Wednesday, requesting arguments in writing from both sides to be turned in by Friday. If Walker rejects the stay, Prop 8 supporters will most likely request an emergency stay from the U.S. Supreme Court.

There was some question as to why same-sex couples could not immediately obtain marriage licenses after the historic ruling. A legal analyst from UC Hastings, professor of law Rory Little, said that marriages issued now, that may be subject to nullification in the event that a higher court overturns Judge Walker's decision, could create too much
commotion.

Little said, ''Maintaining the status quo, even if you don't think it's necessary, is a value for a court system.'' Little cited the example of two federal judges who stayed their rulings on desegregating schools in the 1950's for two years before they were confirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court.

08-09-2010

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It's fun to stay at the Y?

Sometimes I get a little punch drunk on Friday afternoons, particularly in the summer when temperatures outside hit 110 degrees by 8 AM and stay above 100 until sometime after midnight.  The obvious solution is to say indoors as much as possible and by the end of the week that leaves me feeling a bit giddy.  As a result, my meanderings through the blawgosphere tend toward the whimsical, which means I was utterly delighted by the recent news that the YMCA has decided to officially change its name to the Y. According to the Y’s own press guidance, “the Y” should be written with a lower case “t” unless used at the start of a sentence. 

Although this is a national rebranding, there will be no national recall of Village People eight track cassettes.  Victor Willis, the original lead singer of the Village People, released a statement announcing that the band will not change the words of the iconic song, nor shorten the dance in which people spell out the letters YMCA with their arms. 

Although the story is making its way around the legal blogs, it’s hard to find a solid legal angle leading me to believe that everyone is just as tickled by the story as I am.

07-19-2010

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YouTube And Your Image

I recently had the opportunity to read a piece on Wired PRNews that discusses the use of video sites, such as YouTube, in the overall marketing approach employed by law firms.  The piece extols the virtues of client video testimonies as a means to advertising a firm’s efficacy and speaks to the ever shifting environment lawyer's confront today as they try to bring in business.

YouTube videos are no longer just for entertainment; instead
the video hosting website is rapidly becoming a reference tool,
creating an entry point into the Web and an opportunity for marketing
directors. Some are even calling YouTube the new Google, as YouTube
becomes as effective as mainstream search engines. In November 2008, 146
million Americans watched videos online, which accounted for 12.6
billion streaming video clips, nearly doubling the number of streaming
videos just 20 months ago. YouTube continues to grow as well, with its
share of videos streamed jumping to 40 percent of all online videos in
November [of last year], as opposed to a 17 percent share in March 2007.

No doubt, in theory, lawyers who want to market themselves
effectively should take advantage of whatever tools they have at their
disposal. Particularly, online resources often offer a cost effective
way to disseminate information to the widest audience possible. This
column has, for instance addressed the growing use of topic specific
blogs as one way of demonstrating a firm's acumen on discreet issues and
topics in the field.

The yellow pages, word of mouth and referrals still offer, to a degree,
the same amount of exposure they have traditionally offered; however, as
the piece points out, as client's and their representatives become more
tech savvy, they are turning more to their computers and the Internet
to conduct due diligence and seek out potential legal counsel.

My knee jerk reaction? There are so much effluvia and trivia available
on the internet. It is not controlled or peer reviewed and so, in a
sense, undermines that all important facet of the well crafted image,
the support of your colleagues and the idea of a standard. It places
your video alongside an endless list of similar ones. True the videos
can be embedded on your firm website and thus eliminate part of the
problem by creating an element of control.

In the piece, they ask an expert to touch upon these points and others
that need to be hit in a model testimonial. Kevin Quinlan, whose
marketing firm at CEPAC.com, specializes in the delicate art of the
YouTube testimonial, rattles of a list of criteria that take all the
spontaneity of YouTube and reduce the process to the making of a
glorified (or deglorified) commercial:

Spin.
Control of tone and content.
Anticipation of audience response and questions.
Distillation of issues down to their simplest denominator.

The modus has changed little, it is just the means of delivery that has
shifted.

There is little disagreement that the milieu for traditional advertising
has changed. To make things more complicated, advertising for services
such as legal ones, has always carried with it an ethical dilemma, as
well as a certain stigma. Where is the line drawn, what is too much?
But by merely converting a late night infomercial to a YouTube video, is
straw, necessarily, being spun into gold?

07-12-2010

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