HONOLULU -- Former beauty queen Tiffini Limahai appeared in court Wednesday to find out her sentence for drug possession and dealing. She hoped her highly-publicized story would not end in prison.

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Limahai would just be another drug defendant were it not for the success she enjoyed before her addiction. On Wednesday, that success was the key to winning a second chance.

"Getting arrested changed my life. It forced me to get honest with myself," Limahai told the judge.

Limahai spent the past six months in rehab. Police arrested her in September with her husband after a drug raid. Family and friends said the woman she used to be -- Miss Hawaii USA, class president and honor student -- is beginning to emerge.

"I really think that she can make a difference in other people's lives," Limahai's mother, Korin Carter, said. "She's my old daughter. I definitely can see the change."

However, the prosecutor said she should do a year in jail because she is likely to slip back into crime.

"The reason is the substance abuse problem that she has," deputy prosecutor Marvin Rampey said.

"God is working in my life. He is healing my soul and I know I was wrong and I am sorry," Limahai said.

Judge Richard Perkins said she deserved a second chance, not jail. He ruled that after five years of good behavior, her felony record will disappear.

"Hopefully, you will be back where you were before all this started," Perkins said.

Limahai embraced her family. Her lawyer said her goals are to finish rehab, divorce her husband and, perhaps one day, get custody of her son.

"Tiffini has a second chance to start her life over but she has a long way to go," Limahai's attorney, Scott Collins, said.

Her lawyer said Limahai is still too emotionally fragile to do interviews. Although she was warned she could have gone to prison, her sentence Wednesday was not unusual for first-time drug felons.