Judge Says Lindsay Lohan in the 'Home Stretch'

Lindsay Lohan received another glowing report from a judge Wednesday for her performance on probation stemming from DUI and theft cases, and her protracted legal troubles could come to an end next month, if she successfully completes her community service and therapy requirements.

"Miss Lohan, you're in the home stretch," Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stephanie Sautner told the 25-year-old actress during a brief hearing at the Airport Branch Courthouse. "The probation officer is pleased with your progress. You seem to be getting your life back on track and that's what we all hoped for.

"It was never our goal to just put people in jail, we like to see ... change, and I think we've all seen that," she said.

Lohan has one more court hearing scheduled for March 29. By that time, she must complete 14 more days of community service at the county morgue and five more therapy sessions.

If she meets those requirements, her probation stemming from a 2007 DUI case in Beverly Hills will end on March 29, and her formal probation in a Venice theft case will convert to summary probation, under which she would not have to check in with a probation officer.

"That means, after March 29, all you have to do is obey all laws, stay out of trouble, move on with your life," Sautner said.

Until that hearing, Lohan is free to leave the state for work as long as she notifies her probation officer, but she cannot leave California for pleasure until she completes her community service and therapy sessions, the judge said.

Lohan pleaded no contest May 11 to a misdemeanor grand theft charge involving a necklace priced at $2,500 pilfered from a Venice jewelry store.

She was placed on three years probation and ordered to spend 120 days in jail and complete the 480 hours of community service to which she had been previously sentenced for violating her probation in the 2007 misdemeanor DUI case.

Lohan was originally ordered to have her 480 hours of community service completed by April 2012, with 360 hours at the downtown women's center and another 120 hours at the county morgue. However, her attendance was so sporadic at the Skid Row center last year that shelter officials terminated her from the community-service program there.

That prompted Sautner to revoke the actress' probation. The judge ordered her to spend 30 days in jail after Lohan admitted violating her probation in the DUI and theft cases, but due largely to jail overcrowding, she served only about five hours at the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood.

Sautner then ordered Lohan to perform all of her community service work at the morgue. The judge laid out a strict schedule of probation work and therapy sessions for Lohan, and so far the actress has met all of the judge's requirements.

Lohan, the star of films such as "Mean Girls" and "Freaky Friday," is reportedly in line to portray the late Elizabeth Taylor in a new film.

--City News Service