Lindsay Lohan trial: Judge OK's lawyer switch, trial starts on March 18

Lindsay Lohan appears in court for a pretrial hearing on January 30, 2013 in Los Angeles. Lohan is charged with three misdemeanor counts involving a car crash, and is also accused of violating her probation in a misdemeanor jewelry theft …
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Posted: 01/30/2013

By: CNN

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge approved an attorney switch for actress Lindsay Lohan on Wednesday and set the start of her trial for March 18.

Lohan told Judge Stephanie Sautner that she wanted to replace longtime lawyer Shawn Holley with New York attorney Mark Heller to represent her at the trial, which could send the actress back to jail. Another judge, who is yet to be named, will hear the case.

Lohan, 26, is accused of lying to a police officer about who was driving a car that wrecked in Santa Monica, California, last June. That misdemeanor and another for reckless driving triggered a probation violation charge that will also be tried in March.

"This is not the most complex case we've ever seen," Sautner said.

But it could send Lohan to jail again. Sautner warned her a year ago that any violation of the law could mean she would have to serve 245 days in jail -- the remainder of her suspended sentence from a shoplifting conviction.

Lohan rushed from New York to Los Angeles on Tuesday night despite sending a doctor's note to the court a day earlier that said she was took sick to travel.

"Glad to see you're feeling better," Sautner told Lohan at Wednesday's pretrial hearing.

"Thank you," Lohan replied.

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