Lindsay Lohan Not Going to Jail—Today, Anyway!

Actress again rejects plea offer from prosecution, with preliminary hearing set for next month; LiLo has two more weeks to reconsider a deal

By Gina Serpe, Whitney English Mar 10, 2011 5:49 PMTags

Not guilty? That's long been Lindsay Lohan's story and she's sticking to it.

Appearing in court this morning, LiLo remained unmoved by the district attorney's offers to plea deal her way out of a felony grand theft charge in connection with her infamous alleged necklace heist and, as it stands now, looks ready to fight the accusation by going to trial.

Though she was given one more out by the judge…

VIDEO: It's not the judge's first time lecturing Lindsay!

The hearing lasted just a few short minutes, during which time the judge set a preliminary hearing date of April 22 for the necklace case. That hearing will take place in a different courtroom, in front of Judge Stephanie Sautner. Until then, Lindsay's bond is to stand.

So what will happen then?

Well, if it gets that far, Lindsay's probation violation case will be heard concurrently with the preliminary hearing. Sautner, Judge Keith Schwartz explained, will be listening to evidence to determine whether it's sufficient enough to go to trial, while at the same time will also determine whether she's in violation of probation in her longstanding DUI case.

When asked if she understand the chain of events she has set into motion, Lindsay, dressed once again in a tight-fitting beige latex dress with black tights and booties, responded, "Yes, your honor."

"Any further dealing in this case will be solely at the discretion of Judge Sautner," Schwartz said. Though that's not necessarily true.

An interim hearing has also been set back in Schwartz's courtroom for March 25. Lindsay will only be required to appear in court at that time if she decides to accept a plea deal and settle the case before her preliminary hearing.

"The only reason you will be here is to plead guilty or no contest to the charge and accept the parameters of the order," Schwarz said.

Though the date isn't until March 25, Lindsay has only until March 23 to decide if she will accept the plea offer on the table—which currently includes six months in jail. On March 23, attorney Shawn Holley will inform the prosecution and the judge whether they can expect Lindsay to settle, so that they can begin preparations for the interim hearing.

"Thankfully this case doesn't involve military secrets where people's lives are at stake, because I don't understand how this information leaks out," Schwarz commented, referring to the apparently accurate leaks of the terms of the plea deal currently on offer.

"I don't understand how they get this information."

Schwarz again reminded both parties to respect the confidentiality of the case.

"Cases should be litigated in court, it doesn't benefit anybody. Try, as our understanding was, to keep this confidential," he said.

As for the rest of the morning, it wasn't without its drama. While Lindsay's hearing was expected to begin at 8:30 a.m., Holley didn't roll into the courtroom until roughly 15 minutes later, and Lindsay herself was a whopping 35 minutes late for proceedings, arriving with her mother Dina and sister Ali at 9:05 a.m.—a point which didn't go unnoticed by Judge Schwartz.

"Ms. Holley, where's your client?" he asked Holley in the courtroom. "I thought I said 8:30."

No mention of the lateness was made once LiLo arrived, however, and when asked if she wanted to state anything for the record, Holley simply sought to clarify one of the judge's first statements in court.

"You said my motion was partially denied, that means it was also partially granted, correct?" she asked.

"Well, yes," Schwartz said.

We knew Holley had to be a glass half-full kind of woman.