Actress Lindsay Lohan appears in Los Angeles court for a pretrial hearing, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013, in a case filed over the actress’s June car crash.David McNew/The Associated Press
Actress Lindsay Lohan will stand trial on March 18 on charges she lied to California police about a June car crash and violated probation, raising the possibility she could be sent back to jail.
A judge in Los Angeles on Wednesday set the trial date on charges related to the car crash and said the court will hold a hearing at the same time on whether Lohan violated probation in the incident from a 2011 jewellery theft.
The star of the movie Mean Girls, who has been in and out of rehab and jail since 2007, wore a black sleeveless dress and looked tired at the brief court hearing. She arrived in Los Angeles late Tuesday from New York and has abandoned her long-time lawyer in favour of new attorney Mark Heller.
Lohan has pleaded not guilty to three misdemeanour charges of reckless driving, lying to police and obstructing police when she said she was not behind the wheel of her sports car, which smashed into a truck in Santa Monica, Calif., in June.
Lohan, 26, left court without speaking to the media.
The former Parent Trap child star has been in and out of trouble since a 2007 arrest for drunk driving and cocaine possession.
Judge Stephanie Sautner warned Lohan that she could be found in violation of probation even if she is acquitted on charges connected to the car crash because the standard of proof is lower.
Lohan was ordered to appear at Wednesday's hearing because she decided to switch lawyers, firing attorney Shawn Holley this month.
She was arrested in New York on a misdemeanour assault charge on the same day in November that the Santa Monica car-crash charges were filed. The Manhattan district attorney's office has not filed a criminal complaint in the assault case.
Lohan's appearance in Los Angeles had been in doubt after Heller wrote to the court earlier this week saying Lohan was suffering from an upper respiratory infection and could not appear.
"Glad to see you're feeling better," Judge Sautner told Lohan at the hearing.