Plea deal on drug arrest gets Hilton probation

Paris Hilton can still sashay down red carpets and hit the club scene but she better not step outside the law for the next year after pleading guilty Monday to misdemeanor charges stemming from her cocaine arrest last month at a Las Vegas resort.

Hilton, who faced a felony drug charge, avoided jail time by acknowledging during the Las Vegas Justice Court hearing that she had cocaine in her purse and lied to police when she was arrested, The Associated Press reports.

She will serve a year of probation under the terms of a plea deal and faces a year in jail if she is arrested for anything other than a minor traffic violation during that time.

"The purpose of this at this point is that you change your conduct," Justice of the Peace Joe M. Bonaventure told the hotel heiress.

"The Clark County Detention Center is not the Waldorf-Astoria."

Hilton, 29, pleaded guilty to drug possession and obstructing an officer.

She must complete a drug abuse program, pay a $2,000 fine and serve 200 hours of community service.

Hilton told Bonaventure the cocaine was hers. When he asked what she did to obstruct justice, Hilton, swaying side to side, responded, "I said that the purse wasn't mine to the officer," and acknowledged that she had bought it months earlier.