(Cover) - EN Showbiz - Paris Hilton has avoided jail by pleading guilty to drug possession.

The television star was arrested in Las Vegas last month after she was allegedly found to have the illegal drug cocaine in her possession.

The car she was in was pulled over after police smelt the odour of marijuana coming from it and she was then taken to the nearby Wynn Hotel to speak to officers. When Paris went to apply some lip balm a bag containing what later tested positive as cocaine fell from her handbag.

At the Las Vegas Justice Court today Paris pleaded guilty to two misdemeanours - drug possession and obstructing an officer - as had been arranged in a plea deal she accepted last week.

In exchange for her guilty plea, the 29-year-old star received a one year suspended sentence, meaning that she will not go to jail. However, Paris will have to pay a $2,000 fine and must undertake 200 hours of community service for a charity organisation. Paris has also been ordered by the judge to attend a substance abuse program and her attorneys told the court she plans to attend an outpatient treatment facility.

The socialite has been arrested and charged with Driving Under the Influence in the past, and spent 23 days in prison in June 2007 after she violated the terms of her probation in relation to the charges.

She was arrested in July after she was accused of smoking marijuana at a soccer game at the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, but the case against her was later dropped. Paris was also arrested and detained at an airport in Corsica two weeks later for possession of marijuana. That case was also subsequently dropped. (C) Cover Media