Jail Time

Let us now examine the strange case of poor Paris Hilton, who has been in the news again and not, you'll be shocked to know, for winning Young Humanitarian of the Year. Maybe you heard: Poor Paris is going to the slammer. A judge in Los Angeles sentenced the serial-partying heiress to 45 days in the county jail for violating her probation after a reckless driving arrest last September in which she appeared intoxicated and failed a field sobriety test. It was thought the judge might give her a break and sentence her to work release or home detention or brushing the ponies at the local polo club for a couple of hours, but it was not to be. Still, 45 days in a women's jail is not considered hard time.

Outraged over a plea bargain that will keep a former Baltimore police officer convicted of robbing a Spanish-speaking immigrant out of jail, some Baltimore Hispanic leaders want to pack the courtroom and parade outside Aug. 9, the day he is formally sentenced.That night, the 16 leaders headed by Angelo Solera, vice chairman of the Mayor's Committee on Hispanic Affairs, plan to meet in Canton to organize an umbrella group to raise the profile of Hispanic people and press Baltimore State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy to hire bilingual Hispanic paralegals and lawyers.

Marching among about 50 protesters yesterday outside the Baltimore Circuit Court building to demand that the state heal its bruised relationship with the city's Latino community, Hector Portillo kept his head down in silence.Portillo didn't have to wave "We Want Justice" and "Justicia Para Todos" signs or shout in protest. His presence sufficed. Portillo was one of three men who accused former Baltimore police officer Dorian J. Martin of using his authority to rob them last year. And he and the crowd wanted to let officials know they do not approve of Martin's sentence.

BOSTON -- Stephen Fagan's attorney and two daughters will meet Monday with Middlesex District Attorney Thomas Reilly to discuss a deal in which Fagan would plead guilty to parental kidnapping charges but escape jail time.The proposal, which sources said is likely to be accepted, would mark an abrupt turnaround from the public stance of prosecutors who had pledged to bring the case to trial.But faced with the daughters' unwavering support for Fagan -- who took the children from their mother 19 years ago and raised them under new identities in Florida -- prosecutors felt that they would have a difficult time persuading a judge or jury that Fagan deserved to be jailed, sources said.

The woman formerly in charge of inmate funds at the Anne Arundel County Detention Center will have to repay $35,000 to the county, slightly more than half of the $60,000 she was accused of embezzling from jail accounts.Wanda B. Conaway, 40, of Huntingtown in Calvert County, pleaded guilty to felony theft Friday in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court under an agreement that includes restitution. Judge Joseph P. Manck set sentencing for Feb. 23.Conaway was charged in August with embezzling $60,000 from the jail, a figure she disputed, in what became a politically charged probe.

A former hiring director for Perdue Farms Inc. was given a 10-month sentence yesterday for bilking the poultry company's national headquarters in Salisbury of $177,320 in a mail fraud scheme.Ralph E. Nuzzo, 44, used his position as Perdue's assistant director of human resources to convince the company that 12 employees had been hired for its foods division through executive search agencies. For their services, such agencies are typically paid a finder's fee based on a percentage of the employee's salary.

An Anne Arundel County district judge yesterday sent a 21-year-old Severn man to jail for six months for telephoning a false bomb threat to his former high school.It was the first time a county judge had incarcerated an adult for the misdemeanor crime that beset county schools last year and sparked efforts to tighten laws. Juveniles were found responsible for the others, prosecutors and his defense lawyer said.Judge Robert C. Wilcox refused to let William H. Defibaugh of the 300 block of Anna Court continue working while spending nights in jail, but the judge suspended another six months of jail time.

Former Elkridge pet cemetery owner William A. Green avoided being jailed for contempt of court yesterday and came up with $2,500 for cheated customers in a macabre fraud case.Attorneys for Howard County's Office of Law brought Green to Howard Circuit Court alleging that he did not fulfill the terms of a February judgment ordering him to pay customers for grave markers he never delivered and to turn over the financial records of Rosa Bonheur Memorial Park.Green could have been sentenced to spend time in jail if found in contempt of court by Judge James B. Dudley.

The Jacksonville Jaguars may be soon finding out how the other half lives.Well, to be more precise, how the other 29 teams live.Like the Carolina Panthers, the Jaguars rode the expansion deal to the conference finals in just two years thanks in part to extra draft choices and plenty of money to spend in free agency. That isn't likely to be duplicated the next time the NFL expands.As Ravens owner Art Modell said last week, "They utilized their gifts very well, but you won't see the NFL doing the same thing again."

An 84-year-old northwest Carroll man, convicted in November of molesting eight children over a 33-year period, was sentenced to 18 months in the Carroll County Detention Center on Wednesday.Citing the man's age and ill health, Circuit Judge Francis M. Arnold sentenced him to eight consecutive five-year terms for the crimes, but suspended all but 18 months of the term, as had been promised in a plea agreement between prosecutors and the man last fall.Forty years "is the minimum you would have received from the court for these crimes if it had not been, frankly, for your age," Judge Arnold said Wednesday to the man, who is not being named to protect the privacy of his victims.

It was a day packed with official events for Mayor Sheila Dixon: approving millions of dollars in contracts at a Board of Estimates meeting, holding a news conference to urge parents to vaccinate their children against swine flu, pushing health care reform at a town hall meeting, surprising a Baltimore school with a visit, even playing bingo at a senior center that she had fought to keep open. Throughout the day, she assumed multiple roles, from chief executive to mayor-as-mother to champion of communities.

They worked at a Walmart in Laurel, Bibi Karpaiya in customer service and Mary Hummel in the garden section, often walking across busy Route 198 together to reach the store. As they crossed on Feb. 12, a car struck them, killing Karpaiya. On Friday, the driver, Patricia Ann Rowland, 48, was convicted of reckless driving, a traffic violation, saying that the sun's glare was so strong that she did not see that the traffic light on Route 198 at Russett Green East had turned red. The Anne Arundel County jury found her not guilty of the criminal charge of automobile manslaughter, in a case that is reigniting calls for legislation to address what prosecutors say is a gap in the law. "If you are negligent and somebody dies, there should be possible jail time," said Anne Arundel County Deputy State's Attorney William Roessler, who prosecuted the case against Rowland.

Even a gun bust made by Baltimore's top cop can't buy jail time. Two brothers detained by Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III on New Year's Eve after he chased down men firing shotgun blasts into the night accepted plea deals Monday that will not require them to serve jail time. The arrests were dramatic, an example of Bealefeld personally carrying out his oft-reiterated strategy of going after "bad guys with guns." The commissioner and a member of his executive protection team pursued the suspects through an alley and into a rowhouse, and Bealefeld held one of them at gunpoint as a crush of officers converged to back him up. But the disposition in court eight months later highlights the city's continued challenges in translating such arrests into meaningful convictions.

Man attacked, robbed at north city bus stop A 66-year-old man was robbed and struck with a metal pole early yesterday while waiting for a Maryland Transit Administration bus in North Baltimore, according to a city police report. Holton F. Brown, an editorial assistant at The Sun, was attacked on his way to work about 4:50 a.m. in the 5600 block of The Alameda, near the Alameda Shopping Center, the report says. Police have not made any arrests. Brown told police that he was grabbed from behind, around the neck, and that when he asked what the man was doing, the attacker responded: "What's wrong with you?"

The small woman stood before the judge with her head hung so low that her chin nearly touched her chest. She had been charged with prostitution, but instead of jail time Judge Ann O'Regan Keary of the District of Columbia's Superior Court ordered her to a halfway house where she would receive counseling and other services. If the woman sticks with the rehabilitation plan, the charge would not appear on her record and she could avoid jail time. "I'd like to have us address her situation as soon as possible," said Keary, who presides over one of Washington's two community courts, one of which handles quality-of-life crimes and traffic citations; the other, prostitution, simple assault and some drug cases.

WASHINGTON -- Forgive me. I thought I could avoid writing about Paris Hilton. Alas, popular demand (translation: my persistent wife) thought otherwise. Immigration, global warming, and the congressman caught with $90,000 stuffed in his freezer can hardly compete for public attention with the many ironies of the hotel heiress. You might think that a publicity magnet such as Ms. Hilton, for whom privacy is but a rumor, would carefully abide by the rules of her 36-month probation from last year's drunken driving arrest.

Let us now examine the strange case of poor Paris Hilton, who has been in the news again and not, you'll be shocked to know, for winning Young Humanitarian of the Year. Maybe you heard: Poor Paris is going to the slammer. A judge in Los Angeles sentenced the serial-partying heiress to 45 days in the county jail for violating her probation after a reckless driving arrest last September in which she appeared intoxicated and failed a field sobriety test. It was thought the judge might give her a break and sentence her to work release or home detention or brushing the ponies at the local polo club for a couple of hours, but it was not to be. Still, 45 days in a women's jail is not considered hard time.

NEW YORK -- You don't even need to drive a car anymore to get a DUI. A DUI with a difference, that is: "Dining Under the Influence." Really. More so than at any time since the end of Prohibition, restaurant and bar owners across the country say they're ready to curtail cocktails when they decide a patron is plastered or approaching that state. Even in upscale establishments, where the average tab runs to three figures per head. Even though bar bills can represent more than a third of a restaurant's profits.

What a relief! The agent for Barry Bonds has reassured us that Bad News Barry will return to play at least one more season, barring - I suppose - jail time, which means that he probably will break Hank Aaron's all-time home run record. Now for the obvious question if you're a beleaguered Orioles fan: Can he play first base? The answer probably is no, but the thought of unfurling some more giant numbers on the B&O warehouse has a certain appeal after nine straight losing seasons, and I'm guessing we won't be needing them to count down the magic number in 2007.

The parents stood before a Baltimore judge yesterday and tearfully, passionately argued that the young man who killed their son should not go to jail. "He's a very good person," the victim's mother, Patricia Stoffel, said of the defendant. "He made a terrible mistake, and I know that he is deeply, deeply sorry for what happened." It was a horrific accident -- one that followed a night of drinking beer and shots of alcohol at a Federal Hill bar in December. The Jeep Wrangler slid on a curve of northbound Interstate 83. A fence pole pierced the windshield.