LOS ANGELES – Lindsay Lohan spent roughly 25 minutes wearing a necklace inside a jewelry store that accused her of theft, surveillance video broadcast Tuesday shows.
The TV show “Entertainment Tonight” aired several snippets of footage shot by four cameras inside Kamofie & Co., a Venice, California, jewelry store near Lohan’s home. The footage shows the actress trying on three necklaces before putting on the one reported stolen roughly 20 minutes after entering the store.
The surveillance video is part of evidence prosecutors plan to use against Lohan, who has pleaded not guilty to felony grand theft. She is scheduled to return to court on Thursday to tell a judge whether she intends to take a plea deal that includes guaranteed jail time.
She could also opt to fight the case, which would then proceed to a preliminary hearing that could end with Lohan being ordered to stand trial and being sent back to jail. The actress was on probation for a 2007 drunken driving case when police began investigating her for the necklace theft, and a judge has said he thinks she has violated her probation.
Video footage aired Tuesday shows Lohan, 24, chatting with a clerk while trying on several necklaces, all but one of which she quickly removed, according to the show. She placed one of her own necklaces over the store’s necklace and continued to browse in the store, the video shows. The entertainment news show plans to air a third day of footage on Wednesday, showing Lohan leaving the store.
“Entertainment Tonight” heavily promoted the video and said Tuesday that it was its most popular story so far this year, with more than one million page views on its website. The video was sold by a representative of Kamofie to a commercial images unit of The Associated Press, which then licensed it exclusively to “Entertainment Tonight.”
Christopher Spencer, a crisis management expert who represents the jewellery store, explained in a statement Monday the reason the footage was sold.
“Most important, we were upset with the various mischaracterizations we were seeing and hearing about the video and its contents, and we felt the video should be allowed to speak for itself,” Spencer’s statement read. “With regard to the question of Lindsay Lohan’s guilt or innocence, we repeat that Kamofie and Company never gave permission to Ms. Lohan to remove the necklace from the store. The rest is up to the jury.”
“Lindsay’s in some very hot water here,” former Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Marcia Clark, who prosecuted the O.J. Simpson murder case, told “Entertainment Tonight” after watching the footage. The veteran prosecutor also noted that Lohan made clear she had put the necklace on by showing it to a companion, and continued to interact with a store clerk.
The video does not contain any audio, so Clark said it was difficult to determine Lohan’s intent.
“There must be more that we don’t know or this case would have settled based on the video,” said Lou Shapiro, a defense attorney who also viewed the entire tape at the request of “Entertainment Tonight.”
He said Lohan’s conduct didn’t appear to be of someone who walked into the store prepared to steal the necklace.
“She wasn’t wearing a jacket and she didn’t put it in a pocket, which is more consistent with a theft,” said Shapiro, who spoke to the Associated Press.
Other defense attorneys have said the sale of the video could hurt prosecutors, who also have other evidence in their case against the “Mean Girls” star.