Paris Hilton pleads guilty to drug charge

Paris Hilton has pleaded guilty to two charges stemming from her arrest for drug possession last month at a Las Vegas hotel-casino.

She will serve a year of probation and avoid a felony charge under the terms of a plea deal worked out with prosecutors.

The 29-year-old celebrity heiress pleaded guilty to drug possession and obstructing an officer.

Ms Hilton – wearing a champagne-coloured blouse, a black pencil skirt and black platform heels – told the judge she was in possession of cocaine.

When he asked what she did to obstruct justice, Ms Hilton, swaying side to side, responded: “I said that the purse wasn’t mine to the officer”.

She acknowledged that she had bought it months earlier.

When asked why she didn’t fight the charge, her lawyer said: “Ms Hilton accepts the responsibility.”

Ms Hilton must complete a drug abuse programme, pay a $2,000 fine and serve 200 hours of community service.

She faces a year in jail if she violates the probation and is arrested for anything other than a minor traffic violation.

Ms Hilton was arrested in August inside the Wynn resort, after police say a small plastic bag containing 0.8 of a gram of cocaine spilled out of her purse.