The judge in the Lindsay Lohan theft case said she hopes the jail sentence and community service requirement she handed down Friday will change the troubled actress.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Stephanie Sautner ruled that Lohan violated her probation by taking a necklace from a Venice jewelry store. Lohan has been sentenced 120 days in jail and 480 hours of community service at a downtown women’s center and the Los Angeles County morgue.
“Perhaps she might see how women who have fallen on real hard times have to live and maybe she will change,” Sautner said.
The judge said Lohan only returned the necklace when she learned a search warrant was being served by the Los Angeles Police Department. Lohan immediately countered that she would appeal the sentence. Lohan had been expected to be released on $75,000 bail.
Earlier in the day, Judge Sautner reduced the charge Lohan faces for allegedly stealing the necklace from a felony to a misdemeanor. Prosecutor Danette Meyers said she will seek to overturn Sautner’s decision on the misdemeanor charge, which would limit how long Lohan could serve in jail to no more than one year.
“The judge abused her discretion in this case,” Meyers said. “It was a felony filing because the defendant was on probation…. She has violated on numerous occasions … the evidence was incredibly strong.”
The jewelry store owner testified Friday that 10 minutes after she closed her store on January 22, 2011, she realized that Lohan had walked out with the expensive necklace.
