With set of strict new rules, Calif. judge sets path toward freedom for Lindsay Lohan

With new rules, judge sets path for Lindsay Lohan

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Lindsay Lohan’s judge on Wednesday laid out a path paved with therapy sessions and 12-step program meetings that could lead to the actress’s recovery and an end to a three-year-old drug case.

It also would allow the starlet to return to work after spending more than a month in jail and inpatient rehab.

For the next 67 days, Lohan will be expected to attend psychotherapy, drug and alcohol counseling and random drug and alcohol testing several times a week, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elden S. Fox ordered during a hearing.

If the 24-year-old star succeeds, Fox said he will allow Lohan to return to unsupervised probation and to leave Los Angeles permanently if she wishes.

If she fails to show up or doesn’t pass any of the drug screenings, the judge threatened her with a 30-day jail sentence for each violation.

Lohan’s attorney, Shawn Chapman Holley, said her client was eager to demonstrate that she could comply with the rigid outpatient rehab requirements laid by the judge.

“She is very serious about her sobriety,” Holley told the judge. Lohan, who was released from rehab hours earlier, did not attend the hearing.

Despite the rigid schedule, Holley said Lohan will resume working. She returns to the big screen on Sept. 3 in Robert Rodriguez’s film, “Machete.” She said the actress would skip a screening of the film scheduled for Wednesday evening.

Lohan has also signed on to play porn star Linda Lovelace in a biopic that has not yet started filming.

Holley said she was confident Lohan would be able to juggle her rehab responsibilities — which include two psychotherapy, two behavior therapy and five 12-step sessions a week — with her personal and work life.

“She has changed,” Holley said. “She’s healthy. She’s clear-headed. She is positive at looking forward.”

The star of “Mean Girls” and several Disney films has repeatedly struggled with the terms of her probation for a drug and driving under the influence case filed after a pair of arrests in 2007. Lohan failed to complete her alcohol education classes in time and had her probation extended for a year, then missed seven weekly sessions between December and May.

The absences prompted Superior Court Judge Marsha Revel to sentence Lohan to three months in jail followed by three months in rehab. The actress ended up serving 14 days in a women’s jail and 23 days of inpatient rehab at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.

Revel recused herself from the case after a prosecutor complained about the judge meeting with defense attorneys without notifying her and contacting rehab officials directly.

Wednesday’s sentence was the first time Fox weighed in on Lohan’s case. He said he agreed to release her from inpatient rehab after reviewing reports by her doctors and medical records from a three-year period.

Holley credited doctors and staff at UCLA for taking a fresh look at Lohan’s issues.

Despite ordering an intense regimen of counseling and therapy, Fox gave Lohan some incentives to succeed. He dismissed two drug counts to which the actress pleaded guilty in 2007.

He also said Lohan will be taken off supervised probation in November, which would give her more freedom to travel, and reduce court and media scrutiny for her off-screen actions.

Associated Press video journalist John Mone contributed to this report.