In the aftermath of her Las Vegas arrest over the weekend, Paris Hilton could be in some serious trouble with the law.
The “Stars are Blind” songstress is looking at some jail time if she is convicted on felony charges of possession of almost a gram of cocaine.
However, Paris vehemently denies that the drugs were hers, and says the purse she was carrying was borrowed from a friend.
Hilton’s hairdresser Michael Boychuck told press he got a text message from Paris after her arrest. "She just said, 'This is so unfair it wasn't mine I don't do that crap, I'm so upset.'"
But CBS Legal Analyst Lisa Bloom thinks Paris has set herself up for defeat. "She's told contradictory stories. 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.' You can't blame both that it's not my purse, I didn't know the cocaine was in there, and I thought it was gum. That is just logically inconsistent. She should have picked one or better yet remained silent. Unfortunately, she didn't do that. All of these statements can and will be used against her if this goes to trial."
Bloom continued, stating that Paris’ ‘playing dumb’ defense isn’t going to do her any good. "We have a saying in criminal law: We don't catch the smart ones. A lot of people who are criminals do a lot of stupid things. But I will say this; the police do have to prove that she 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. You have to have knowledge. You have to know it was in there. So if she could prove to a judge or jury if it goes to trial that she didn't know, it wasn't hers, it belonged to somebody else, she unknowingly was carrying it, she could have a defense."
"In the purse that she was carrying, was her prescription medication she concedes, $1,300 which belonged to her. Other items in the purse like lip balm that belonged to her. So it doesn't really make a lot of sense that the only thing in the purse apparently that didn't belong to her was this small bindle of cocaine that she didn't know was there or she thought was gum. That's not plausible story."
All in all, Paris could be spending some time in the slammer if the jury finds her guilty. "It's a minimum of probation out there in Clark County, Nevada, but she has a prior history here in California from 2007 of both a DUI and two probation violations. I think under those circumstances the officials would send her to jail, probably just for a short time, though."
