Paris pleads innocent to drunk driving charges

By Stone Martindale Jan 9, 2007, 21:09 GMT

Paris Hilton shops. EPA/TRACEY NEARMY

Heiress and beer spokesmodel Paris Hilton plead innocent to drunk driving on Tuesday after she was arrested back in September in Hollywood while she rushed to get a tasty "In N' Out" hamburger.

The Los Angeles Times and TMZ report that Hilton did not attend the brief hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court, but attorney Shawn Chapman Holley, entered the not guilty plea for the in absentia celeb.

Media sources state Superior Court Judge Michael Sauer set a pretrial hearing for January 23rd, and said it would go to trial within a month.

The maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine is what Paris faces if convicted, most first-time offenders are often given probation and required to attend alcohol counseling.

Paris went on air the day after her bust, and told KIIS-FM radio that she had been to a party after a long day on set shooting a music video, and only had one drink.

"I had one margarita (and) was starving because I had not eaten all day. Maybe I was speeding a little bit and I got pulled over," Hilton said.

"I was just really hungry and I wanted to have an In-N-Out Burger," she said, referring to the siren-like burger stand utopia that dots Southern California. 

Perhaps for a double-double animal style?