April 23rd, 2011 5:37 AM
Lindsay
Lohan caught a huge break yesterday when the felony grand theft charge
against her was reduced to a misdemeanor by Judge Stephanie Sautner. The judge felt that the nature of the alleged crime and the
value of the necklace in question simply did not warrant a felony charge. PHEW, right? Of
course, LiLo is still on probation for her 2007 DUI arrest, and Sautner
was far less lenient in that regard. She sentenced her to 120 days in
county jail!
Lindsay
has been remanded into custody and taken to the courthouse basement to
be booked. She is allowed to post bail pending an appeal of the ruling. This being Lohan, she's been down this road so many times before and was well prepared. She
posted $75,000 bail and was back on the street within hours. LiLo
was also ordered to complete 480 hours of community service for the
offense, 360 of which must be performed at L.A.'s Downtown Women's
Center. There, Lindsay can see how needy women really have to
live in this society. The remaining 120 hours of her service will be
done at the L.A. County morgue. So she's free for now, but we
expect her to lose that appeal and be back to Century Regional Detention
Facility in Lynwood, Calif., soon. Here's why ... At
the preliminary hearing on the grand theft charge, the judge felt
Lindsay should have called the store and notified the owner about the
necklace sooner. She waited several weeks and returned the
necklace via some underling only after finding out the cops were about
to raid her house. Pretty shady stuff. Sautner seemed influenced by the Lindsay Lohan
surveillance video, which she saw for the first time in court, and showed something suspicious was up. Deputy
D.A. Danette Meyers argued Lindsay used her friend Patrick as a decoy
to distract the clerk while she pilfered the necklace valued at $2,500. Lohan
denies all of this and has pleaded not guilty. While a jury of her
peers may agree, a judge has the sole authority to rule on probation
violations. Lohan
rejected a plea deal that would have gotten her three months (cut down to less than one with good behavior) and ended this weeks ago. Rough. So
here we are. Most likely, this was a way of making sure Lohan does time
no matter what happens in the actual trial - and probably for the best.