See photos of Lindsay Lohan's media frenzy in and outside of court here.

VANCOUVER — L.A. Judge Keith L. Schwartz laid it on the line for troubled actress Lindsay Lohan Wednesday morning: If she pleads guilty or no contest in front of him she will be going to jail.

Her lawyer, Shawn Holley, wanted to launch a plea bargain over her felony theft charge in an attempt to avoid jail time.

Judge Schwartz told Lohan in court he was having none of that. Prosecutor Danette Meyers had already indicated she would insist on throwing the actress back in the slammer.

The judge told Lohan not to expect her celebrity to influence his ruling: "Make no mistake about anything," he told her. "One of the things about me is I treat everybody the same. I don't care if you're Lindsay Lohan or John Doe or Jane Doe."

"If this case settles," he warned, "you will go to jail, period." Lohan is charged with a felony count of grand theft for allegedly stealing a $2,500 necklace from a jewelry store in Venice, Calif.

The case has been remanded to March 10, when Lohan will either plead guilty, no contest or innocent.

If she pleads innocent, the case will go in front of another judge in pre-trial.

Lohan and her lawyer will have to decide whether she will get a more lenient jail sentence from Schwartz in a plea bargain than if she were found guilty at a later trial. Of course, they could also hope she would be found not guilty at the subsequent trial.

Schwartz said he wants to help Lohan: "I don't want you to be a repeat offender in the system."

He said he would order her to undergo psychological counseling and be assigned a sponsor to help her deal with her substance abuse and alcohol problems.

He made it clear that the sponsor would not be a member of Lohan's family. "You need to get a reliable trustworthy and reasonable sponsor...someone unrelated to you."

He repeated his warning. If Lohan pleaded no contest or guilty in his court: "There is going to be jail time in this case, the question is how much."

Lindsay insists she never stole the necklace but was told she could borrow the piece of jewellery by the store owners in return for publicity.