Fans waved signs urging jurors to exonerate the star, but the verdict was guilty: In one of the most bizarre celebrity trials ever, the eternally flamboyant Zsa Zsa Gabor was convicted on Sept. 29, 1989, of two driving violations and of battery on a cop. A month later, she was sentenced to 120 hours of community service, a fine of $12,350, and three days in jail.
Gabor's woes began on June 14, when Beverly Hills police stopped her for expired registration tags on her Rolls. A doctored license-although ample and probably close to 70, she had altered the document to read she was 61 and 110 pounds-and a flask of whiskey caused more trouble. But the boa feathers really hit the fan when she slapped Officer Paul Kramer, prompting him to handcuff her and take her to jail (a police camera recorded her being booked-un-dahling expletives and all).
The trial reportage concentrated on Zsa Zsa's outfits, while she sketched pictures during the 15-day proceeding. She drew a $500 contempt fine for violating a gag order. Her husband, German prince Frederick von Anhalt, didn't help by proclaiming, ''The rich and famous should be judged differently. This city couldn't live with the little people's tax money.'' Not surprisingly, Municipal Court Judge Charles Rubin ruled that ''the law applies equally to everybody.''
Never mistaken for a little person, Zsa Zsa was born Sari Gabor in Hungary sometime after 1916 and came to the U.S. in 1941, joining younger sister Eva. In Hollywood, she dabbled in movies (Queen of Outer Space) and TV (Hollywood Squares), but her grandest role has always been herself. Her legal dramas include seven divorces, two earlier run-ins with police (in 1968 and earlier in 1989), and what reportedly was the most expensive personal libel suit in history: Last December, she and her husband lost a $3.3 million judgment for disparaging remarks they made to a German magazine about actress Elke Sommer. That lawsuit put Gabor into bankruptcy. ''I work all the time,'' she declares. ''I have such expenses with all these lawyers.'' She recently released her own exercise video, is a favorite guest of David Letterman, and even spoofs her 1990 jail stint on this season's premiere of Empty Nest. Improbably, Dateline NBC interviewed her about the O.J. Simpson case.
''I think people are really biased when you are famous,'' Zsa Zsa says today, still maintaining her 1989 innocence. ''The public knew that I never hit the policeman. But you cannot fight city hall.''
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