Lindsay Lohan’s day is either ending in jail or with her posting a $20,000 bail – bet on the latter.
Charged with felony grand theft over a $2,500 necklace taken from a Venice, Calif. boutique, the 24-year old actress (pictured below, at a previous court hearing) will be arraigned early Wednesday afternoon at the Los Angeles Airport Courthouse.
Deputy District Attorney Danette Meyers, who has been the people’s point person on the Lohan case for a while and who recently announced her intention to run for her boss’ job, asked for the bail in the charge today.
The D.A.’s office, who are expecting Judge Keith Schwartz to agree to or even raise their bail request,formally filed its charge against Lohan on Wednesday morning, saying:
On or about January 22, 2011, in the County of Los Angeles, the crime of GRAND THEFT OF PERSONAL PROPERTY, in violation of PENAL CODE SECTION 487(a), a Felony, was committed by LINDSAY LOHAN, who did unlawfully take money and personal property of a value exceeding Nine Hundred Fifty Dollars ($950), to wit A NECKLACE the property of KAMOFIE & COMPANY, SOFIA KAMAN.
The charge could see Lohan, no stranger in the past year to being behind bars or putting down some serious cash to get herself out of trouble, spending one in state prison if convicted.
Now, if the expertise of her longtime lawyer Shawn Chapman Holley is any indication, few expect the “Machete” actress, who just got out of three months of rehab in the Betty Ford Center, to actually be put behind bars. What will likely happen, minus the usual Lohan drama, is that Lindsay will be booked downstairs at the Airport Courthouse and quickly afterwards released on bail.
However, that doesn’t mean Lindsay Lohan’s out of trouble.
Not by a long shot.
For one thing, as a part of the grand theft charge, prosecutors have asked for Lohan to provide DNA and print samples. “Willful refusal to provide the samples and impressions,” said the criminal complainant, “is a crime.”
Then there’s the matter of Lindsay’s, who Riverside County D.A. is still considering charging with battery from a run-in with a staff member while Lohan was at the Betty Ford, troubled probation from her 2007 DUI incident.
“The real risk for Lindsay is if the judge today links this incident to her DUI probation,” an individual close to the case told TheWrap. “That could set off a chain reaction of judges running out of patience and real jail time.”
Elden Fox, the L.A. Superior Court judge in that case, decided not to put her in jail after the 24-year old failed a mandatory random drug test last October.
Fox did tell Lohan, even as the actress entered yet another treatment program, that he would put her behind bars for six months if she violated her probation again or ran afoul of the law again.
Lohan, who has been to jail three times in connection with her 2007 DUI case, is expected back before Judge Fox for a probationary progress hearing on Feb. 25. .. or perhaps sooner, depending on the what today ultimately turns out.
