Nicole Richie's DUI Court Date Postponed

Nicole Richie on Tuesday was granted a three-week postponement before she stands trial on DUI charges in Los Angeles.

But judge Steven Lubell, who set a new trial date of July 11, said he'd allow no further postponements, Reuters reports. He had already moved the original trial from June 25 at the request of Richie's lawyers.

"She has two options: Either she goes to trial or she changes her 'not guilty' plea," Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office, told Reuters.

Richie, 25, was not present at the hearing Tuesday. Because of a prior DUI conviction in June 2003, by California law, she faces mandatory jail time (90 days to one year) if convicted of a second DUI within 10 years.

Earlier this month Richie told David Letterman she was "scared" of going to jail like buddy Paris Hilton, now behind bars for violating probation after her own DUI arrest.

But Robison said Richie's case would not havemuch effect by the media frenzy surrounding Hilton's jail term. "For us it's taken on a case-by-case basis," she told Reuters. "That's a different office, different jurisdiction. It has nothing to do with this case."

Richie pleaded not guilty in February to driving under the influence on Dec. 11. Officers had stopped her after she was spotted driving the wrong way on a Los Angeles highway, and police said she'd admitted to smoking marijuana and taking Vicodin. Some term there is awaiting for this damsel in distress! What say?