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LOS ANGELES - Paris Hilton is backing an online campaign to request California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger issue a pardon following her 45-day prison sentence for driving on a suspended licence.
In a blog posted on her MySpace homepage on Tuesday, Hilton urges fans to sign a petition being organized by a supporter calling for the socialite to be spared jail time.
"My friend Joshua started this petition, please help and sign it. i LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!," Hilton said in a message above a link to the petition.
The petition calls on Schwarzenegger to issue a pardon, claiming that she has been used as a scapegoat by authorities seeking to highlight the dangers of drink-driving.
The Hilton hotel heiress "provides hope for young people all over the US and the world. She provides beauty and excitement to (most of) our otherwise mundane lives," the petition reads.
"We, the American public who support Paris, are shocked, dismayed and appalled by how Paris has been the person to be used as an example that Drunk Driving is wrong," it adds.
"We do not support drunk driving or DUI charges. Paris should have been sober. But she shouldn't go to jail, either."
A spokesman for Schwarzenegger indicated an intervention from the movie-star turned politician was unlikely.
"It would be inappropriate for the governor to insert himself in this battle until the individual has exhausted all of his or her legal remedies," Schwarzenegger press secretary Aaron McLear told local broadcast network ABC 7.
"And at this point I don't think this is the case."
Hilton must begin her prison sentence at the Los Angeles Century Regional Detention Facility on June 5 or else risk seeing her sentence doubled.
She was handed her jail term on Friday after a court ruled she had broken her probation by twice driving while banned earlier this year following a conviction for drink-driving. Lawyers have said they will appeal the decision.
In a separate development, Tuesday, Hilton's long-time representative Elliot Mintz confirmed to AFP that he would continue to work for the "celebutante," a day after issuing a statement saying he had parted company with her.
"We met last evening and had a very good discussion and decided to continue our working relationship," said Mintz.
Hilton had testified during her court hearing that Mintz had wrongly advised her she was legally allowed to drive despite having a suspended licence. - AFP/ir
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