Friday was D-Day for Lindsay Lohan as she faced the judge, yet again. Venice jewelry company, Kamofie & Co. accused the starlet of stealing a necklace worth $2,500.00, and it was up to Los Angeles Superior Court Judge, Stephanie Sautner, to decide Lindsay’s fate.
Lucky for Lilo, the judge dropped her felony theft charge down to a misdemeanor, saying, “I see brazenness here…On one hand, I think Ms. Lohan has earned her right for a felony…She has thumbed her nose at the court, she has walked into the court with FU on her fingernails.” But, Sautner added, “I’m going to give her an opportunity.”
After showing the surveillance video taken at the jewelry store of the actress leaving with the necklace in question around her neck, Lindsay’s lawyer, Shawn Chapman Holley argued that it showed conduct that was more “scattered than crafty.”
Although favoring Lindsay in her decision to decrease the charge, Judge Sautner added, “The evidence this court has seen is that there was an attempt to return the necklace after [there was a ] leaked search warrant…We all have busy lifestyles, there is no excuse for not calling the store…Even if she forgot it for a moment, she certainly knew she had it when she got home.”
Deputy District Attorney Danette Meyers, unhappy with the judge’s ruling, later told reporters “The D.A.’s Office and I, in particular, respectfully disagree with the court’s ruling today with respect to reducing this case to a misdemeanor…It was a felony filing and it was a felony filing because Lohan definitely was on probation, formal probation [at the time of the alleged crime], and she clearly had violated that probation, as most of you know, on numerous occasions.”
Meyers added, “The evidence in this case was strong. I don’t know of one instance in Los Angeles County where you can walk into a retail store, take an item, take it home for a couple of days, take it for 10 days and not pay for the item, and not believe that person intended to permanently deprive property.”
“In this case, it was clear she violated the law and the only reason why the defendant returned property was because she knew there was a search warrant out there and police were going to come and search her residence.”
Lindsay is required to appear in person for a pretrial hearing on May 11, with a trial to follow on June 3.
But Lindsay’s “luck” may slowly be running out. Though Judge Sautner decreased the severity of Lindsay’s felony charge, she later ruled that the actress was in fact in violation of her probation, therefore sentencing her to 120 days in county jail and 480 hours of community service.
Lindsay has been on probation for two DUI charges since 2007 and the current violation extends from that.
Bail was set at $75,000, and Lilo was immediately taken into custody and booked at 4:25 p.m. She was released from Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood, CA., just before 9:30 that same night.
Judge Sautner ordered that Lindsay spend 360 hours of her community service working at the Downtown Women’s Center in Los Angeles. The remaining 120 hours will be spent at the L.A. County Morgue. All 480 hours must be completed within a year, and Lindsay will return to court for a status hearing on July 21.
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