Paris Hilton – Special Treatment During Cocaine Bust or At the Station? Sure. You Betcha.

Usually, this blog serves as a record of bad acts by Texas law enforcement, prosecutors, judges, or other members of the local criminal justice system. 

However, it’s just too tempting to ponder the latest antics of Paris Hilton, after reading that long before her recent felony arrest, Ms. Hilton tweeted a photo of the identical purse she initially denied was her property at the scene.   You almost want to send a big, big bottle of Excedrin to her defense attorney, right?  (Check out the pretty little purse here from Paris Hilton’s twitter feed.)

Paris Hilton – an Exception to the Rule

The short version of the story, which you’ve probably heard by now – on Letterman or Leno, if not in the local news – is that Paris was pulled over in Las Vegas and somehow (D’oh!) what appeared to be cocaine was discovered in a purse — yep, the one that is the subject of all the tabloid photographs.  Paris initially said it wasn’t hers, of course. 

Paris Hilton was subsequently arrested by Las Vegas law enforcment for felony possession of cocaine.

Taken down to Las Vegas’ Clark County Detention Center by the arresting officer, Paris Hilton was booked in record time.  In fact, she was in and out of the jail so fast that there’s been suspicion that Paris got special treatment because she was a celebrity. 

Special Treatment? At the Station….

Nope, says the guy that runs the detention center.  Well, no – they didn’t treat Paris special because she’s a tabloid star and she’s blonde and sells lots of perfume (her tenth scent just debuted in stores). No, it’s because of the chaos that having someone who guards and inmates and everyone else apparently wants to gawk at can disturb the internal operations of the Clark County Detention Center. 

Apparently, Paris was back on the streets in 3 hours because her presence was inherently disruptive, not because she’s the grand-niece to Elizabeth Taylor’s first husband or the frienemy of Kim Kardashian.   Paris Hilton: jail troublemaker, right?

Sure, Paris probably helped expedite things because she’s sorta experienced at getting booked.  There in Vegas, she posed for her third mugshot, after all.  And, it’s also true that having anyone around at any level of fame can be a hinderance — whether at the jail, or a restaurant, or in the mall. 

Special Treatment? At the Bust ….

However, it’s less clear that Paris got any special treatment at the scene of the bust.  Looks like the Vegas cops did their thing, and the heiress didn’t get to scoot away with a warning after signing a few autographs. 

CNN’s Nancy Grace has all the details of the bust: Paris opened the purse in front of a police officer, wanting some lip balm, and the alleged coke falls out in front of the cop.  Falls out.  You can’t make this stuff up. 

What’s interesting to ponder now are the media stories suggesting this is a publicity tactic to get Paris some of the tabloid territory that Lindsay Lohan and Kim Kardashian have had staked out for awhile now. 

People suggests that her mugshots might be “sarcastic”.  MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski’s just flat out opines that this arrest was planned in advance so Paris could get lots of publicity. 

A felony drug arrest?  Really?

So, let’s ponder what Nevada law enforcement’s gonna do here.  Felony cocaine possession is a serious crime.  Nevada will probably dot its i’s and cross its t’s to insure that there no future criticism of elected officials for treating Paris Hilton like she’s oh so special. 

Meanwhile, Paris is already demonstrating the defense made famous back in the 1970s by Texas legend Racehorse Haines: 

“Say you sue me because you say my dog bit you. Well, now this is my defense:

• My dog doesn’t bite.  [“…that’s not my purse”]
• And second, in the alternative, my dog was tied up that night. [“…the contents of the purse aren’t mine”]
• And third, I don’t believe you really got bit. [you get the idea ….]
• And fourth, I don’t have a dog.

Yeah. watching this story play out is gonna be fun.