Lohan faces arrest after missing court date
(Agencies)
2010-05-21 09:07
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Lindsay Lohan faces arrest when she returns from France to Los Angeles after an exasperated Beverly Hills judge said the actress had "no valid excuse" for missing a probation hearing on Thursday.
Judge Marsha Revel issued an arrest warrant for the "Mean Girls" actress after hearing Lohan missed three alcohol education classes imposed in a 2007 drunken driving case.
Revel also said Lohan should undergo random weekly drug and alcohol testing on her return to California, be fitted with an alcohol monitoring bracelet and should not drink any alcohol until a formal hearing to determine whether she has violated her probation.
Lohan's lawyer told Revel that the actress was stranded in France because her passport had been stolen during a trip to the Cannes film festival.
"If she wanted to be here it looks to the court like she could have been here," Revel said. "There is really no valid excuse."
"She has to take this seriously. I warned her before," said Revel, who in October extended Lohan's probation after other missed classes and warned her she risked being sent to jail.
Los Angeles County Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore told reporters that Lohan could potentially be arrested at the airport when she eventually arrives.
She could also surrender herself to authorities and be booked and processed before posting bail, set at $100,000and being released.
"She will be treated just like every other inmate in the Los Angeles county jail system," Whitmore said of the booking procedure.
Lohan's lawyer Shawn Chapman Holley said Lohan now has a new passport. It was not immediately clear when she would arrive back in Los Angeles.
Holley was asked by reporters outside court if she thought the judge had been harsh on Lohan, Holley said she "can't help but believe that part of the judge's impetus for doing this" is the heavy media coverage of the actress.
The alcohol education classes are part of Lohan's sentence for a 2007 arrest for drunken driving, reckless driving and driving under the influence of cocaine.
She was also sentenced to 24 hours jail but spent just 84 minutes behind bars in 2007 because of overcrowding in Los Angeles lock-ups.
The former "Parent Trap" child star is now at risk of being sentenced to more jail time if Revel deems she has violated the terms of her probation once she attends a rescheduled court hearing at a date to be determined.
Lohan was photographed hitting the party circuit in Cannes this week and her frequent night-clubbing in Los Angeles and New York has been a source of celebrity gossip for months.
But officials from the alcohol education program she attends said in court documents that Lohan "has never come (to class) under the influence, been rude or disrespectful" and is "receptive to ideas regarding lifestyle changes".
Lohan's estranged father Michael Lohan attended Thursday's hearing and said through his lawyer afterward that he had asked Revel to send his daughter to a rehab clinic.
Lohan was considered one of Hollywood's most talented young actresses after films like "Bobby" and "Freaky Friday". But her life has spun out of control despite three stints in rehab.
In her last movie role with a U.S. theatrical release, Lohan played a stripper in the 2007 box-office flop "I Know Who Killed Me." She was dropped last month from a movie project after the film's financial backers deemed her "unbankable."