Lindsay Lohan to get her day in court on necklace charge

Actress Lindsay Lohan is due in court on Friday for a crucial hearing on a jewelry theft charge that threatens to sink her chances of reviving a career stalled by repeated trips to rehab and jail.

Lohan, 24, has strenuously denied that she stole a $2,500 gold necklace from a Los Angeles store in January, just weeks after completing three months of court-ordered treatment for drug and alcohol addiction.

Friday's preliminary hearing marks the first opportunity for Lohan's lawyer to present her side of the story, and for prosecutors to publicly lay out evidence against the actress.

A judge will also decide whether the "Mean Girls" star should stand trial before a jury for felony grand theft, and face up to three years in jail if convicted.

Lohan last month rejected a deal offered by prosecutors that would have put her behind bars for three to six months if she pleaded guilty.

Her decision was seen as a huge gamble, given her legal problems of the last three years. Lohan is still on probation for a 2007 drunk driving and cocaine possession conviction. She spent two weeks in jail in 2010, and could be returned to jail simply for violating probation.

Lohan this week secured a role in an upcoming movie about New York mobster John Gotti, although it was not clear how she would fit in filming later this year, if she is jailed on the jewelry charge.

But the actress has insisted she is innocent. "I was not raised to lie, cheat, or steal," she said in a Twitter message in February. Friends have said she believed the jewelry was on loan when she walked out of the store wearing it.

Once considered among the most promising young actresses in Hollywood with films like "Freaky Friday" and "Bobby", Lohan's career has come to a virtual halt. Her last movie was independent action film "Machete" in September 2010. Her 2009 movie "Labor Pains" failed to gain U.S. theatrical release and instead became a TV movie.

Last year, her legal problems caused her to lose the lead role in a movie about 1970s porn star Linda Lovelace.

Lohan acknowledged in March that she has a long way to go to regain favor in Hollywood.

"I miss being on set ... I know there is going to be a lot of steps I'll have to go through to prove myself again and get the trust from people I respect to work with," she said in a TV interview.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant: Editing by Alex Dobuzinskis)