I'm not getting tired of this at ALL

Yeah, this just gets better and better. Here are today and yesterday’s pieces on this horrible miscarriage of justice from the BBC. I know the second one is a repeat of yesterday’s facts, but I loved some of the quotes. "I'm very sorry and from now on I'm going to pay complete attention to everything." Classic.

Celebrity heiress Paris Hilton is backing an online petition seeking a pardon of her 45-day prison sentence because she enlivens "mundane" lives.

The petition to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger also claims she was being used as a scapegoat to highlight the dangers of drink-driving. Hilton was sentenced after being found guilty of violating her probation for a drink-driving conviction. She must start her jail term by 5 June or risk a doubling of her sentence.

'Role model'

In a message on a MySpace website, Ms Hilton apparently endorsed the online appeal, saying: "My friend Joshua started his petition, please help and sihn it (sic). I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!"

The petition paints Ms Hilton as a role model who "provides hope for young people all over the US and the world. She provides beauty and excitement to (most of) our otherwise mundane lives".

It also draws parallels between other high-profile US figures who were forgiven for their misdeeds. "If the late former President Gerald Ford could find it in his heart to pardon the late former President Richard Nixon after his mistake(s), we undeniably support Paris Hilton being pardoned for her honest mistake," it says.

Mr Schwarzenegger's press secretary, Aaron McLear, said the governor would not become involved in any case "until the individual has exhausted their judicial remedies".

Ms Hilton's representative, Elliot Mintz, could not verify whether the MySpace message attributed to his celebrity client was genuine, but he did say the petition "appeared to be authentic". Separately, her lawyers have said they will appeal against the sentence.

And from yesterday...

Celebrity heiress Paris Hilton has been jailed for 45 days after being found guilty of violating her probation for a drink-driving conviction.

A Los Angeles judge ruled she must start her sentence on 5 June and has no prospect of an early release.

Ms Hilton told the judge she was very sorry and that she would "pay complete attention to everything" from now on.

The socialite said she did not know her licence had been suspended when caught driving without headlights in February. According to papers filed in Los Angeles' Superior Court, Ms Hilton was stopped by California Highway Patrol officers on 15 January and informed she was driving on a suspended licence. The 26-year-old then reportedly signed a document acknowledging she was not allowed to drive.

On 27 February, she was stopped by Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department for speeding on Sunset Boulevard with her car's headlights off and charged with violating her probation. Although Ms Hilton maintained she was not aware her licence had been suspended, court papers said the document she signed in January was found in her car's glove compartment.

She was also accused of failing to enrol in an alcohol education programme by a court-ordered deadline.

Late entrance

Ms Hilton was sentenced to three years' probation, fined $1,150 (£582), and lost her licence at the end of January after pleading no contest to a drink driving charge in September.

Despite prosecutors saying the heiress deserved a jail sentence prior to Friday's hearing, Ms Hilton arrived at the court at least 10 minutes late.

One of the world's most photographed women, her arrival attracted a swarm of paparazzi at a courthouse whose most glamorous work usually consists of dealing with parking fines.

Her mother, Kathy, laughed when the demand for a custodial sentence was made during the prosecution's closing argument and asked Judge Michael Sauer for his autograph.

"I'm very sorry and from now on I'm going to pay complete attention to everything," Ms Hilton told the court before she was sentenced. "I'm sorry and I did not do it on purpose at all," she said. But the judge was unmoved.

The 26-year-old heiress wept when the ruling was announced, and her mother shouted at the prosecutor: "You're pathetic."

One of Ms Hilton's lawyers said the jail sentence was unfair.
"To sentence Paris Hilton to 45 days in jail to me was uncalled for, inappropriate and bordered on the ludicrous. I think she was singled out because she's who she is," Howard Weitzman said.

If Ms Hilton does not report to jail on 5 June she will face 90 days behind bars.

The BBC's David Willis says the austere surrounding of the all-women's detention centre will be a far cry from the five-star luxury the hotel heiress has become used to. What her fellow inmates will make of her, and she of them, remains to be seen, our correspondent says.