Rima Fakih avoids jail

Rima Fakih has avoided a jail sentence after the former Miss USA pleaded no contest to driving while visibly impaired.

A Michigan judge this week (beg07May12) sentenced the disgraced pageant queen to six months probation and 20 hours of community service, and ordered her to attend an alcohol education course, reports TMZ.com.

Fakih was arrested in Detroit, Michigan on suspicion of drunk driving on 3 December (11) and, according to cops, she had a half-empty bottle of wine behind her driver's seat and a blood alcohol content more than twice the legal limit.

She struck a deal with prosecutors in April (12) to plead no contest to the misdemeanour charge, and in return lawyers dropped the more serious count of operating a vehicle while intoxicated.

In 2010, the 26-year-old beauty was the first Arab-American to be crowned Miss USA.