Hilton out of jail, back in court

Paris Hilton, sprung from a Los Angeles County jail for what the sheriff’s department said were medical reasons, was ordered back in court today to determine whether she should return to jail.

Superior Court Judge Michael Sauer issued the order late Thursday, hours after the heiress was sent home to finish her term under house arrest.

The judge, who originally sentenced the ubiquitous Hollywood socialite to 45 days for violating probation on a prior reckless driving charge, took the step as criminal justice officials reacted angrily to her abrupt release Thursday morning. The city attorney filed a petition demanding to show cause why Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca should not be held in contempt of court for releasing Hilton.

Hilton was long gone from the Century Regional Detention Facility early Thursday when Los Angeles County sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore announced that the celebrity inmate had been released for undisclosed medical reasons. She was sent home where she was to spend the next 40 days tethered to an electronic monitoring device.

Legal analysts said Hilton may have benefited more in this case from the realities plaguing a severely overcrowded Los Angeles County jail system rather than any special treatment related to her celebrity.

Attorney Mark Geragos, who has represented pop star Michael Jackson and actress Winona Ryder, said it is extremely rare for most misdemeanor offenders to serve jail time in Los Angeles County because of the overcrowding. Geragos suggested that Hilton’s celebrity actually may have worked against her.

“If her name was Paris Perez and not Paris Hilton, she would have been out in 12 to 36 hours,” he said.

Richard Hutton, Hilton’s attorney, did not respond to requests for comment. Earlier this week, Hutton told reporters his client was doing well after her first night in confinement.

On Thursday, however, Whitmore said a medical condition had played a role in Hilton’s release. He refused to say what it was.

Court records filed in a separate case involving Hilton indicate that the high-profile inmate was suffering from serious emotional problems. Charles Sophy, a psychiatrist who had been seeing Hilton before her May 4 sentencing, submitted a statement to the Los Angeles County Superior Court on May 14 asking that a civil lawsuit involving Hilton be postponed because she was “emotionally distraught and traumatized” by her fear of jail.