Jane Velez-Mitchell on Lindsay Lohan: It's All Empty Threats

HLN talk show host Jane Velez-Mitchell appeared on "The Wendy Williams Show" on Friday, Feb. 25, 2011, to chat about what should happen to Lindsay Lohan in the necklace theft case.

"Our criminal justice system is messed up," Velez-Mitchell said, "and it's time we take justice back from the judges."

On Michael Lohan, who is a frequent guest on her "Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell" show, Jane said she loves him: "He's a sweet guy." She thinks his heart's in the right place, "but he really shouldn't hold news conferences right after his daughter's in court and attack his ex-wife."

Wendy said: "The judge is saying that Lindsay's going to jail. Do you think the judge is being harder on her because she's Lindsay Lohan? ..."

"No," Jane said, "Listen, this girl has gotten away with one thing after the other. She -- it's empty threats. It's absolutely empty threats. All these judges, one after the other, have scolded her. How much time has she done in jail? 84 minutes and less than two weeks.

"Now, you know anybody else, let's say, a poor person from maybe the inner city --"

"A poor Puerto Rican person," Wendy interjected.

"Yeah, exactly," Jane continued, "would be in the slammer, up the river for how long. Now we have more people incarcerated in this country than any other country in the world ... and a lot of them are doing hard time for non-violent drug offenses, like crack, and, so I say, yeah -- be compassionate to Lindsay -- but let's be compassionate to everybody while we're being compassionate. Not just Lindsay."

Evidently, Velez-Mitchell does not believe Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Keith Schwartz, who told Lohan on Wednesday, Feb. 23, that he is not impressed with Lindsay Lohan's celebrity. The embattled actress has been offered a plea deal where she will get a 6-month sentence, and the judge warned her that if she accepts it, she can count on going to jail. How much of that 6-month sentence she will actually serve remains to be seen, if she accepts.

It is not looking good for Lohan, according to a report from RadarOnline, since a surveillance video seems to show that Lohan's companion deliberately distracted the store clerk at the Venice jewelry store while the actress made the old switcheroo by taking off her own necklace and replacing it with the store's merchandise. The video purportedly then shows Lindsay and her male accomplice strolling out of the store. It is clear that she has the stolen merchandise on in the video.

Lindsay Lohan will be back in court on March 10.

Sources: Embedded and
The Wendy Williams Show (2/25/2011)