Lohan explains obscene nail message as lawyer resigns

Lindsay Lohan tried to explain away the obscene phrase seen on one of her fingernails in court Tuesday, while vowing to appeal her sentence for probation violation - even as her beleaguered attorney resigned.

On Wednesday, Lohan, 24, sentenced to 90 days in jail and 90 days in inpatient rehab for probation violations in a 2007 DUI case, directed a post on her Twitter account to "Liani Levi," writing, "idn't we do our nails as a joke with our friend dc? it had nothing to do w/court . . it's an airbrush design from a stencil."

Lohan's attorney, Shawn Chapman Holley, also attempted a spin on Lohan's middle-finger graffiti, saying in a statement Thursday "the words could barely be seen by the naked eye." She said Lohan's sentence "is far harsher than what others would have received under the circumstances." Shortly afterward, when TMZ.com called Holley on a related story, the attorney told the site she no longer represented Lohan. TMZ said Lohan's new lawyer is Tiffany Feder-Cohen, who was admitted to the California bar just last November. E! News said Feder-Cohen's office would not confirm the attorney is representing Lohan.

Lohan also took to Twitter on Wednesday night to quote Article 5 of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which says, "No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment." She then quoted legal scholar Erik Luna from a 2002 article, in which he said the U.S. Sentencing Commission's strict guidelines for federal sentences was "a constitutionally perverted system that saps moral judgment through its mechanical rules." Lohan was sentenced under California state guidelines.

Luna told Newsday Thursday, "I started receiving messages from students and family and friends late last night, and it's continued through this morning." He noted, "There is something fascinating about her trying to connect to her particular case, or to her trying to wax generally about issues of sentencing."