Updated Thursday, May 28 – 10:36 a.m.
After nearly eight years, Lindsay Lohan was finally released from probation today when a judge confirmed that the actress had successfully completed the last of her required 125 hours of community service.
“Probation is terminated as of today,” Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mark A. Young said during a brief hearing.
The 28-year-old actress, who has been on probation for a variety of criminal cases dating back to 2007, performed about 115 hours of community service in the past three weeks in New York — at a children’s center and a program for LGBT youth, according to her attorney, Shawn Holley.
“I spoke with her a couple days ago and she had really felt fulfilled by the community service …, so it had the desired effect,” Holley said.
Her most recent community service and probation stemmed from a 2012 traffic crash on Pacific Coast Highway. During a March 7 court hearing, Superior Court Judge Mark A. Young said Lohan had only completed around 10 hours of her required 125 hours of community service. He said if she did not complete the hours by today, the actress would face “consequences” — likely meaning jail time.
Holley said Lohan was having trouble completing her community service in London, where she has been living, due to the distance she has to travel, the cost of transportation and limits on the number of hours she can perform each day.
Young agreed to allow Lohan to travel to New York and complete her community service hours working with children at Brooklyn Community Services.
With the clock ticking, however, Holley said Lohan also performed community service at an LGBT youth center, which operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“That really allowed her the opportunity to work 11-and 12-hour days,” Holley said.
Holley added: “I wish her well. She’s been on probation almost her entire adult life and she is an extremely talented and beautiful young woman and hopefully she will put all of her efforts into a thriving career. I know she will.”
Santa Monica Chief Deputy City Attorney Terry White congratulated Lohan – – who was not in court for the hearing.
“I’m just happy that she did what she was supposed to do,” he said. “Her obligation to the court is complete and she’s finished with probation, so, you know, the case is over.”
The actress pleaded no contest in March 2013 to reckless driving and lying to police in connection with a June 8, 2012, collision in the 1100 block of Pacific Coast Highway involving a Porsche and a dump truck.
Lohan told officers she was a passenger in the car, but investigators later determined the actress was behind the wheel when the Porsche crashed into the rear of the truck.
As a result of her plea, Lohan was ordered to complete 30 days — equaling 240 hours — of community service, spend 90 days in a locked rehabilitation facility and to 18 months of psychotherapy during a two-year probationary term.
Earlier this year, Holley contended that Lohan had completed all of her community service hours, but Santa Monica prosecutors objected to the type of work the actress was doing in London, saying she was getting credit for activities such as a meet-and-greet with volunteers and a “work shadowing experience” in London with two young people who were “basically hanging out with her.”
At a hearing in February, Young agreed and ordered Lohan to perform another 125 hours of community service. He also extended her probation until today.
On her Twitter page, Lohan last night posted, “Hard work pays off. Thank you to all those that allowed me to volunteer while in NYC. God bless you.”
