Lindsay Lohan – Justine Goodman

Last week, the blogs were aflutter with the news that Katy Perry’s Evangelical mother is trying to sell a book about her daughter’s sinful lifestyle, and it got us thinking about other parents who have displayed questionable judgment when it comes to their famous offspring. Read on for a roundup of Hollywood’s most notoriously unfit parents, from the Lohans to Joe Jackson.

Dina and Michael Lohan
With role models like these, it’s no wonder Lindsay “Lindsay” Lohan turned to drugs and alcohol just to stay afloat. Michael is the only Lohan who has a longer rap sheet than Lindsay, with charges ranging from insider trading to driving under the influence to attempted assault. And the only thing he does more frequently than talk to the press about Lindsay is booze. Meanwhile, Dina is desperate to be a pseudo-celebrity in her own right, and conceived that god-awful reality show ‘Living Lohan’ as a way to capitalize on her other potential cash cow, daughter Ali. She even invited a crew from ‘Entertainment Tonight’ to film the troubled Lindsay while she was in drug rehab. Parents of the year these two losers aren’t. Continue reading →

: LiLo in court.

For those of us with nothing better to do than follow the latest Lindsay Lohan legal drama, this week marked an important moment: Lindsay officially issued a statement saying she would not take a plea deal (which would have involved some mandatory jail time) on felony grand theft charges of stealing that now-infamous necklace. Instead, she will take her chances at trial.

LiLo had already indicated that she wouldn’t take any plea that involved jail time, but since she isn’t exactly famous for her top-notch decision-making skills, we asked some people who actually went to law school to weigh in on whether going to trial is a good idea.

Gerald Lefcourt, a prominent New York attorney and past president of the Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, points out that the question of whether to make a deal or go to trial is the critical question in every case. Says Lefcourt, “One of the toughest and most important decisions an accused faces is whether to accept a negotiated plea offer or take the risk of going to trial and have her fate decided by a jury. That decision is even more difficult in high profile cases where concerns about damaging pre-trial publicity, public sentiment about the accused, and the ability to find a fair and impartial jury predominate. Pleading guilty eliminates uncertainty and is often the best way to mitigate the risk of receiving a harsher sentence if convicted after trial.” Continue reading →