Judge’s advice to Lindsay Lohan: ‘Don’t drive’
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‘Don’t drive.’
That was the advice to Lindsay Lohan from a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge as he sentenced the actress Monday to 90 days in a locked rehabilitation facility for reckless driving and lying about driving a Porsche that crashed on Pacific Coast Highway. Judge James Dabney said that was his advice -- not a court directive.
Dabney’s suggestion may be based on Lohan’s driving record. Monday’s no-contest plea was the latest in a series of convictions and arrests for the actress that began with a DUI conviction related to 2007 drunk-driving incident. She has also been sued by several motorists she has struck in the last six years.
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Lohan avoided jail in a last-minute deal by pleading no contest to misdemeanor charges related to a June 2012 car crash. In addition to spending 90 days in a rehabilitation facility, the ‘Mean Girls’ star, 26, must also spend 18 months in psychotherapy and serve 30 days of community service as part of the agreement. She pleaded no contest to misdemeanor reckless driving and providing false information to police. A charge of willfully resisting, obstructing or delaying an officer was dismissed.
In pleading no contest, Lohan admitted she had violated her probation in a 2011 shoplifting case. Dabney sentenced her to 180 days in jail, but that sentence was stayed. The judge said if Lohan met the terms of this deal, she wouldn’t serve additional time behind bars.
But the judge warned there wouldn’t be any discussion about probation if she violated the agreement, implying she would be sent to jail. A five-day jail sentence for reckless driving was included in the rehab sentence.
Lohan was also ordered to pay restitution to the driver of the truck that Santa Monica prosecutors said she hit June 18 while on her way to the set of ‘Liz & Dick.’
Mark Heller, the New York-based attorney now representing Lohan, said his client was ‘extremely gratified with the end result.’
‘I’m very confident that you won’t be seeing Lindsay Lohan in any criminal courts anytime in the future,’ Heller said outside the courthouse. ‘She has fully recognized all of the issues that have to be addressed, and I’m very confident she’ll be able to move forward in her life with dignity, pride and respect.’
The eleventh-hour deal didn’t come without some drama.
Lohan made a last-minute dash from New York to enter the plea, apparently catching an overnight flight to Los Angeles on a private jet, according to her Twitter account.
‘Thanks Mr. Pink for the private jet see you all in a few hours in LA,’ she tweeted early Monday.
But the flight was delayed and landed at LAX about 8:30 a.m., according to media reports. Lohan arrived at the courthouse nearly 50 minutes late. A woman threw gold glitter on the actress as she made her way past the media swarming outside.
Last week, Lohan’s father, Michael Lohan, retained an Orange County criminal law firm to assist in his daughter’s defense if needed, saying he was ‘not at all comfortable with the poor representation she is getting’ and that her ‘freedom and future are at stake.’ Michael Lohan clashed with Heller as the attorney spoke to reporters after Monday’s hearing, telling the lawyer to ‘go home.’
Michael Lohan and his daughter have a strained relationship that has played out in public, with the actress and her siblings frequently criticizing their father in interviews and on social media.
He was present in the courtroom Monday morning, but the two did not appear to communicate.
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