Paz De La Huerta Charged For Brawl At The Top Of The Standard

by Mara Siegler · April 19, 2011

Paz de la Huerta, known for nipple slips and drunkenness as well as her role on HBO's Boardwalk Empire, was in Manhattan Criminal Court today to face charges she allegedly punched The City star Samantha Swetra in the face while she was partying with Lindsay Lohan at the Top of the Standard. Let's step into the courtroom...

Paz, to her credit, showed up to court in an appropriate areola-covering pantsuit and trench coat to face the charges of third-degree assault, attempted assault, harassment and criminal possession of a weapon.

According to Gatecrasher, who first reported the story, Paz approached Samantha and Lindsay's table and started flirting with one of their male friends:

"De la Huerta suddenly lost her footing and went crashing into an adjacent table. After taking in the unexpected pratfall - which, our source adds, resulted in one of de la Huerta's breasts "hanging out of her dress"- an amused Swetra yelled out "triple axel!" The gibe sent de la Huerta into a rage and she threw a drink glass at Swetra's leg and took a swing at the model's face, the source says." Sam was hit in the lips and nose and was bleeding from shattered glass, "Lindsay was pulling shards of glass off of it."

This account matched the criminal complaint. Paz's defense seemed to be that Samantha was lying for attention. Prosecutors told the court that she told cops after being arrested, " I'm a real actress - HBO. She's a publicity seeker, a fake actress," reports the New York Daily News.

She will be back in court on May 19. 3rd degree assault in New York State is a misdemeanor and carries a maximum penalty of one year in county jail. There is also mandatory one year jail time for any felony charge of possession of a weapon. While I would like to say this could hurt her career, she probably just bought herself even more star power. If she goes to jail, expect to see her on Celebrity Rehab, followed by Dancing with the Stars, followed by her own show after she gets out.