Michael Thomas Sauer (born 1937)(died 2021) is a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge. He is best known for sentencing socialite

Paris Hilton Paris Whitney Hilton (born February 17, 1981) is an American media personality, businesswoman, socialite, model, and entertainer. Born in New York City, and raised there and in Beverly Hills, California, she is a great-granddaughter of Conrad ...

to 45 days in jail for violating the terms of her

probation Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incarceration), such ...

. He was previously a Deputy

City Attorney A city attorney is a position in city and municipal government in the United States. The city attorney is the attorney representing the municipality. Unlike a district attorney or public defender, who usually handles criminal cases, a city att ...

for

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and unsuccessfully argued the famous '' Cohen v. California'' case before the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

Early life

Sauer grew up in the Windsor Square neighborhood of Los Angeles. He attended

Loyola Law School Loyola Law School is the law school of Loyola Marymount University, a private Catholic university in Los Angeles, California. Loyola was established in 1920. Academics Degrees offered include the Juris Doctor (JD); Master of Science in Legal ...

and later worked for eight years for the city attorney's office. In 1971, as deputy city attorney in charge of appellate cases, he unsuccessfully argued before the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

in the case of Cohen v. California (arguing against famed first amendment attorney Melville B. Nimmer) — an obscenity case stemming from a defendant who appeared in a county courtroom wearing a jacket decrying the draft. Appointed to Los Angeles Municipal Court in 1972 by Governor Ronald Reagan, Sauer was elevated to the Superior Court bench in 2000 when the two courts combined. While on the bench in May 1993, Sauer was responsible for removing the MCA World Headquarters shooting by John Brian Jarvis to California Superior Court. In 2003, he was moved from criminal court cases to misdemeanor arraignments — a posting heavy on traffic violations and DUIs.

Paris Hilton

In May 2007 Sauer sentenced socialite Paris Hilton to 45 days in jail for violating her probation. Following the sentencing, Sauer reportedly received a standing ovation from his church in Los Angeles. However, the judge stated that this incident did not occur, and was also surprised at the amount of publicity surrounding the jail sentence. On Thursday, June 7,

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD), officially the County of Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, is a law enforcement agency serving Los Angeles County, California. LASD is the largest sheriff's department in the United States ...

officials released Hilton because of an undisclosed medical condition and sent her home under house arrest. She had been in jail for only three days. Hilton was fitted with an

ankle monitor The ankle, or the talocrural region, or the jumping bone (informal) is the area where the foot and the leg meet. The ankle includes three joints: the ankle joint proper or talocrural joint, the subtalar joint, and the inferior tibiofibular joi ...

and was expected to finish her 45-day sentence at home. City attorney Rocky Delgadillo filed a petition late Thursday afternoon questioning whether Sheriff

Lee Baca Leroy David Baca (born May 27, 1942) is a convicted criminal and former American law enforcement officer who served as the 30th Sheriff of Los Angeles County, California from 1998 to 2014. In 2017, he was convicted of felony obstruction of justi ...

should be held in contempt of court for releasing Hilton on Thursday morning. Sauer himself had expressed his unhappiness with Hilton's release before Delgadillo asked him to return her to court. When Sauer sentenced Hilton to jail, he ruled specifically that she could not serve her sentence at home under electronic monitoring (house arrest). The day after her release, June 8, Sauer ordered Hilton to report immediately to court, and then ordered her to return to jail to serve out her entire sentence.

References

External links

Photo of Judge Michael T SauerOral Argument in Cohen v. California
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sauer, Michael T. 1937 births Living people California lawyers California state court judges Loyola Law School alumni Superior court judges in the United States