Richie, Lohan Avoid Hard Time

In this photo released by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's department, Nicole Richie is seen in a booking mug shot taken Thursday, Aug. 23, 2007. Richie was released from jail Thursday just 82 minutes after she checked in for what started out as a 90-hour sentence for driving under the influence of drugs. (AP Photo/Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department) (AP)

She crashed her Mercedes-Benz into a tree on Sunset Boulevard in May and fled the scene to seek medical treatment. Police tests revealed that a white powder found in Lohan's purse was 0.04 grams of cocaine.

Richie was arrested Dec. 11, 2006, after witnesses reported seeing her black Mercedes-Benz sport utility vehicle headed the wrong way on a freeway in Burbank. The California Highway Patrol said they found her parked in the car pool lane.

She pleaded guilty in July to a misdemeanor DUI charge in a deal with prosecutors that helped her avoid a potential year in jail because it was a second driving-under-the-influence conviction.

Her first conviction was in 2003 for driving under the influence of alcohol.

Richie told authorities after being arrested in December that she had smoked marijuana and taken the prescription painkiller Vicodin, a CHP officer said at the time. No drugs were found on her or in her car.

Her "The Simple Life" co-star Paris Hilton served 23 days at the same suburban Lynwood jail as Richie after she was found guilty of driving on a suspended license while on probation for an alcohol-related reckless-driving case.

Attorney Howard L. Weitzman, who represented Hilton in her probation-violation case, called the judge in Lohan's case "objective and fair."

Weitzman, who doesn't represent Lohan, added that she "appears to be doing what we would all want someone to do in this situation, which is be accountable for her actions and take responsibility for her conduct and make a meaningful effort to change her life."