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Paris Not Copping to DUI

Tue., Jan. 9, 2007 11:36 AM PST by Sarah Hall

Paris Hilton maintains that burgers, not booze, were behind her September arrest for drunken driving.

At an arraignment hearing Tuesday, Hilton pleaded not guilty to two counts of DUI. Because the charges were misdemeanors, the heiress was not required to appear in court and had an attorney enter the plea on her behalf.

A pretrial hearing on the matter was scheduled for Jan. 23.

Hilton's troubles began when she was stopped Sept. 7 after police spotted her behind the wheel of her Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, driving erratically as she left a Hollywood hot spot.

According to an LAPD report, she displayed symptoms of intoxication and failed a field sobriety test. Though police refused to confirm, sources claimed Hilton blew a 0.08 on the Breathalyzer test, the minimum blood-alcohol level required for a DUI in California.

Even so, both Hilton and her ever-ready publicist, Elliot Mintz, were quick to deny that she had been driving while intoxicated.

According to Mintz, his client was simply exhausted after spending a long day shooting a music video for her song, "Nothing in This World."

The failed Breathalyzer test, he said, was the "probably the result of an empty stomach and working all day and being fatigued," combined with the single margarita Hilton acknowledged having downed at the charity event she had just departed when she was stopped.

For her part, Hilton called into Ryan Seacrest's morning radio show the day after her arrest to explain that she was simply in a rush to indulge a fast-food craving.

"Maybe I was speeding a little bit," Hilton told Seacrest. "I was just really hungry and wanted to have an In-N-Out burger.

"Everything I do is blown out of proportion."

Should the aspiring singer-actor be found guilty of drunken driving, she could face a maximum penalty of a $1,000 fine and six months in county jail. However, as a first-time offender, Hilton would be more likely to face a lesser punishment, usually involving probation, fines and an alcohol-education program.