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Former Miss USA sentenced to probation and community service in drink driving case

Rima Fakih, the first Arab-American to be crowned Miss USA, has been sentenced to probation and community service in a drunken driving case.
The 26-year-old former beauty queen avoided the possibility of jail time during Wednesday's hearing in Highland Park, an enclave of Detroit. 
Judge William McConico put her on six months' probation, ordered 20 hours of community service and said she must pay $600 in fines and costs.
Sworn in: Former Miss USA Rima Fakih faced DUI charges in the 30th District court in Highland Park, Michigan on Wednesday
Sworn in: Former Miss USA Rima Fakih faced DUI charges in the 30th District court in Highland Park, Michigan last month
Fakih also must attend an alcohol safety class. She pleaded no contest last month to driving while visibly impaired.
She has said she wasn't drinking on the night of her arrest in December, but two police breath tests put Fakih's blood alcohol content at more than twice the legal limit.
The former Miss Michigan was crowned Miss USA in 2010.
 
Her lawyer, W Otis Culpepper, predicted that Fakih would be sentenced to probation, which he said she could serve in California, where she is pursuing opportunities in the entertainment industry. 
Fakih will 'get back to California and get on with being a Hollywood kind of person,' Culpepper said.
Bargain: The 26-year-old, pictured with Highland Park City Attorney Todd Russell, left, and defense attorney W Otis Culpepper, right, took a plea deal
Bargain: The 26-year-old, pictured with attorney Todd Russell, left, and defense attorney W Otis Culpepper, right, was today sentenced to probation and community service
Serious: Fakih offered the plea to driving while visibly impaired last month after she was arrested in December for drink driving
A trial had been planned before 30th District Court Judge Brigette Officer on the original charges of drunken driving, careless driving and having an open container of alcohol. 
Police said Fakih was driving 60mph in a 30 mph zone and weaving in and out of traffic before they pulled her over in her hometown of Highland Park on December 3.  
Officers found an open bottle of champagne behind the driver's seat of the 2011 Jaguar.
One breath test put her blood alcohol content at 0.20 percent and another put it at 0.19 percent. The legal limit is .08 percent.
Fakih's family moved to New York from Lebanon in 1993, and then to the Detroit suburb of Dearborn ten years later.
Polished: The former beauty queen arrived to court in a black skirt suit, with her family behind her
Polished: The former beauty queen said she was looking forward to putting the incident behind her
Crowning glory: Miss Michigan Rima Fakih was crowned Miss USA in 2010
Crowning glory: Miss Michigan Rima Fakih was crowned Miss USA in 2010
Making history: Rima Fakih was the first Arab-American voted Miss USA
When she won the Miss USA Pageant in May 2010, she became the first Arab-American to do so. Supporters described her win as a victory for diversity, saying it countered negative stereotypes about people of Middle Eastern descent that have flourished in post-9/11 America.
Shortly after she was crowned, photos emerged of the beauty queen in a 2007 poll dancing competition, causing a scandal.
Her reign as Miss USA ended in June of last year.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2141908/Rima-Fakih-DUI-Former-Miss-USA-sentenced-probation-community-service-drink-driving-case.html#ixzz1uOB32jbo
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