Lindsay spends less than a day in jail

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Lindsay Lohan (photo) was freed from a suburban Los Angeles jail late Friday night, well short of the nearly month-long stay a judge had intended for the actress following a failed drug test.

Lohan was released at about 11:40 p.m. after posting $300,000 bail, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Steve Whitmore said early Saturday.

Celebrity website TMZ.com reported her release just before midnight.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elden Fox had ordered Lohan held without bail during a brief hearing Friday morning, But his ruling later was overturned after the Mean Girls star’s attorney, Shawn Chapman Holley, filed a late-afternoon appeal seeking bail.

Judge Patricia Schnegg, who is an assistant supervising judge of LA’s criminal courts, issued a ruling shortly before 6 p.m., saying that since the starlet had been convicted of misdemeanors, she was entitled to bail.

The actress is not entirely free. She will be required to wear an ankle alcohol monitor and stay away from establishments that primarily sell alcohol.

She is also due back in court on Oct. 22, when the judge who curtly sent her to jail will decide what her punishment will be for failing a drug test roughly two weeks after he released her early from rehab.