Money Matters, Simplified.
Felony reduced to misdemeanor, Lohan released on $75,000 bail
by Ann Tyler - April 24, 2011 - comments
Lindsay Lohan had been sentenced for 120 days behind the bars for violating parole by walking away with a $2,500 necklace gratis from a jewellery store in Venice, Calif this January.
Making news for all the wrong reasons, actress Lindsay Lohan was once again greeted by well-wishers as she earned release from a Los Angeles county jail after filing a $75,000 bail this Friday night.
The 24-year old starlet was hardly in custody for five hours at the Century Regional Detention Facility in LA. She had been sentenced for 120 days behind the bars for violating parole by walking away with a $2,500 necklace gratis from a jewellery store in Venice, Calif this January after three visits in the same week.
The boutique owner, Sofia Kaman, let her leave with a promise of returning it the following day and buying a ring instead. But the actress could again be sighted only on the hearing day.
Pleading innocence, Lohan said, “I would never steal, in case people are wondering. I was raised not to lie, cheat or steal."
An appeal by Lohan's lawyer, Shawn Chapman Holley, was benignly received by Superior Court judge, Stephanie Sautner, who minimised an indictment of felony grand theft to a mere misdemanor on Friday.
"I am going to give her an opportunity. I'm going to reduce this case...to a misdemeanor," Sautner declared.
A fourth in her series of jail visits, the Freaky Friday star was also sentenced with 480 hours of community service, 300 hours of which she had to spend at a women's shelter and time at the county morgue. An appeal, in this regard, has also been filed by Holley.
Pleading innocence, Lohan said, “I would never steal, in case people are wondering. I was raised not to lie, cheat or steal.”
The actress has recently bagged a role along side John Travolta in an upcoming flick “Gotti: Three Generations".
Sautner ordered Lohan to stand trial on June 3, after reducing serious charges against her which made chances of a fitting sentence extremely dim, if found guilty. Originally, she was to serve a term of 3 years if convicted.
Lohan's legal woes were set in motion by her first arrest back in 2007 for driving in an inebriated state and after police retrieved what seemed to be cocaine from her car. Since then, she has amused with missing court dates, turning up late for hearings, parole violations and popping in and out of jail and rehab, twice each.
What remains to watch out for is how much fame and fortune goes down the drains before the curtain finally falls on Lohan's eccentricities.