Lohan a no-show in court; lawyer enters not guilty plea

Lindsay Lohan. (Hewitt/Splash News)Where in the world is Lindsay Lohan?

The troubled actress, who has been in London since late December, failed to appear in a Santa Monica, California, court on Tuesday to enter a plea for the three misdemeanor charges against her stemming from her June 2012 car accident, including lying to police (she told them her assistant, Gavin Doyle, was behind the wheel when he was not). But luckily for Lohan, her maybe-former lawyer, Shawn Chapman Holley, did it for her and plead not guilty on her behalf.

When Commissioner Jane Godfrey asked Holley if she still represented Lohan, she replied, ?At this point, yes,? and then promised the judge ?the issue will be nailed down? before the pre-trial hearing on January 30 ? when it is mandatory that Lohan be present in court.

Although it?s not surprising that the 26-year-old, who has often been tardy to hearings in the past, was a no-show, Holley?s presence in court was. On Monday, the lawyer, who has represented Lohan for the past five years, was relieved of her duties on her way to meet with the prosecutor and the judge to negotiate a deal that would send Lohan to ?lockdown rehab? for six months, instead of having a hearing, during which she could be found guilty and sentenced to jail time. But because of the short notice of lawyer swapping, Holley was still the counsel on record for the case, which is why she appeared in court on Tuesday morning. As she exited court with a police escort, Holley was bombarded with questions about her famous client, all of which she ignored.

After Lohan fired Holley on Monday, it was reported that the real reason was because she owed her more than $300,000 in legal fees and had not made a payment in six months.

But as soon as she made the decision to replace Holley with Heller ? who was suspended from practicing law for five years, starting in 1994, after he was found guilty of 18 violations, including deceit, abusive treatment of clients, and fee gouging ? Lohan immediately regretted it and told TMZ she ?desperately? wanted Holley back as her counsel.

It looks like Lindsay got her way for now ? but will Holley stick around for her upcoming hearing?

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Source: http://omg.yahoo.com/blogs/celeb-news/lindsay-lohan-lawyer-pleads-not-guilty-no-show-174516594.html

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