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Paris Hilton has been sentenced to 45 days incarceration for violating probation, but media watchers say it is unlikely the star will spend even a night behind bars.
Hilton and her family were shocked and dismayed on Saturday when Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Sauer sentenced the 26-year-old reality star to 45 days in jail after she was caught driving with a suspended licence in February.
But Hilton is determined not to go down without a fight.
Speaking to paparazzi over the weekend, Hilton said she had been treated unfairly, reported TMZ.com.
She called her sentence "cruel and unwarranted" before adding, "I don't deserve this".
Hilton's mother Kathy Hilton agreed, saying: "[The judge] made up his mind before he even came in today. If it were anyone else, this would've never had happened."
She voiced her anger at the ruling again over the weekend. "This is pathetic and disgusting, a waste of taxpayers' money with this nonsense. It is a joke," she told Hollywood.com.
Hilton's fans began sending messages of support as news of the jail term spread. One fan, Joshua Capone, wrote to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asking him to intervene and keep Hilton out of jail.
"She provides hope for young people all over the US and the world. She provides beauty and excitement to (most of) our otherwise mundane lives," Capone wrote in a letter to Schwarzenegger posted online on Hilton's myspace page.
Hilton quickly responded on her myspace page.
"I just want to thank Joshua so much for his kind words of love and support. God Bless. Love Paris."
A day after the sentence was read, Paris joined her parents for lunch at Prego in Beverly Hills before a shopping trip to Francis-Orr and Ermenegildo.
The Simple Life star was ordered to appear at the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood, California, before June 5, but Hilton's attorney Howard Weitzman has vowed to appeal the sentence, according to People magazine.
Even if Hilton loses her appeal, many remain skeptical that she will ever serve time behind bars.
Last year, Lost actress Michele Rodriguez was sentenced to 60 days at the same detention centre for violating probation but was released after just four hours due to mass over-crowding of the facility.
- NZHERALD STAFF, REUTERS
