US:Hotel heiress Paris Hilton left jail yesterday in red-carpet Hollywood style, waving and smiling to scores of paparazzi, after serving three weeks for violating probation in a drink-driving case.
Looking exuberant, Hilton sashayed past two rows of reporters and photographers held behind yellow police tape at the Lynwood women's jail just after midnight, before running to a waiting sports utility vehicle to hug her mother Kathy.
Without a word, they left quickly for a Hilton family home in the exclusive enclave of Bel-Air, with several vehicles full of photographers tailing them.
Hilton (26), who has vowed to change her party-going ways and give new meaning to her life, was set to give her first after-jail interview today on CNN's Larry King Live. The incarceration of the multimillionaire, who lampooned her own persona as a clueless child of privilege on the reality TV show, the Simple Life, ignited a worldwide media frenzy and debate about celebrity justice.
The saga hit a crescendo when Hilton was placed briefly under house arrest after just three days in jail, sparking an uproar over what many saw as preferential treatment. A Los Angeles Times analysis, however, found her sentence far exceeded those served by most inmates for similar offences.
Her departure from jail was in stark contrast to the scene when a sobbing Hilton was ordered back to her cell earlier this month, crying: "Mom, mom. It is not right." In the end, she served just over 22 days in jail. Her 45-day term was effectively cut in half under a standard credit for good behaviour.
The case has also led to a rare public showdown between two of Los Angeles' top law enforcement officers: city attorney Rocky Delgadillo, who prosecuted Hilton, and sheriff Lee Baca, who oversees the county jail system and moved to "reassign" Hilton to house arrest.
The judge sided with the prosecutor in sending Hilton back to jail to finish her term.
But Mr Delgadillo, a rising political star, soon found himself under fire for his own misconduct, including improper use of city resources and revelations that his wife had been the subject of a nine-year-old arrest warrant.
Hilton has spoken in interviews of being transformed by her experience, of wanting to be taken more seriously and of feeling that God has given her a second chance.
Her jail time stemmed from her arrest in September on a charge of drink-driving. She pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of alcohol-related reckless driving in January and was sentenced to three years' probation.
The next month she was caught driving on a suspended licence, which violated her probation.