Jail is Likely for Lohan

Starlet booked on suspicion of DUI, felony drug possession.

ByABC News
February 9, 2009, 9:36 AM

July 24, 2007 — -- Lindsay Lohan, who was arrested early Tuesday on charges of driving with a suspended license and felony drug possession, faces likely jail time if she is convicted of all the charges against her, criminal defense lawyers told ABC News.

Santa Monica police arrested Lohan early Tuesday and booked her on misdemeanor charges of suspicion of driving under the influence and driving with a suspended license and two felony charges of possession of cocaine and transporting a narcotic into a jail. Lohan has a separate misdemeanor drunken driving charge pending against her stemming from a car crash in May.

If convicted of all the charges against her, Lohan faces up to several years in prison, though criminal defense lawyers said she would get far less jail time, if any.

"She is in a world of hurt," said Steven Cron, a criminal defense lawyer in Santa Monica. "Any judge is going to want to make sure she's off the streets for a while. I think she faces a substantial amount of jail time."

While warning that it is still too early to say what will happen to Lohan and that all the facts of her arrest still are not known, several Los Angeles criminal lawyers told ABC News that they expected Lohan, who recently left rehab and has been wearing an alcohol monitoring ankle bracelet, to serve at least some jail time if convicted.

Lohan's attorney Blair Berk and her publicist did not immediately return calls for comment. In a statement released to the Web site TMZ.com, Berk said that Lohan had relapsed. "She is safe, out of custody and presently receiving medical care," the statement said.

'A Very Bad Situation'

Driving with a suspended license, when the suspension was for drunken driving, carries a mandatory 10-day jail sentence under California law.

But the drug charges lodged against Lohan raise the possibility of significant jail time, though lawyers said the exact amount would be impossible to predict.