LOS ANGELES – A judge on Wednesday gave Lindsay Lohan roughly two weeks to decide if she will fight or take a plea deal in a felony grand theft case, but either decision could send the troubled starlet back behind bars.

Superior Court Judge Keith Schwartz told Lohan he would sentence her to jail if she accepted a plea deal involving the theft of a $2,500 necklace from an upscale jewelry store.

“If you plead in front of me, if this case is resolved in front of me, you are going to jail,” Schwartz said. “Period.”

Lohan, 24, has pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Rejecting the deal would trigger a hearing during which prosecutors would present some of their evidence to another judge. Schwartz said that judge would sentence Lohan for a probation violation if she determined Lohan should stand trial.

That could mean Lohan is sentenced to jail even before the theft case is tried.

Schwartz has said he thinks the actress violated her probation in a 2007 drunken driving case, and two other judges have warned Lohan she faced a return to jail if she got into trouble again.

That was before police began investigating the “Mean Girls” star last month after the necklace was reported missing from the store in the Venice area of Los Angeles. The necklace was given to detectives by an unidentified Lohan associate before police could serve a search warrant.

Wearing high-waisted white pants and a low-cut black top, Lohan told Schwartz she understood her options. She left the courtroom wearing sunglasses and clutching her mother’s hand.

Prosecutors gave Lohan’s attorney Shawn Holley a copy of surveillance video from the jewelry store and police reports in the case. The potential evidence will now be reviewed by Lohan and Holley, who must decide how to proceed before the actress returns to court on March 10.

Schwartz told the actress he was treating her like any other defendant and wanted her to know precisely what she was facing.

“I want you to get on with your life,” Schwartz said.

He said he doubted Lohan would take the plea deal, which prosecutors declined to discuss after the hearing.

Lohan has lived with the near-constant prospect of returning to jail since May, when she missed a court hearing in the DUI case.

Sculptor wants Costner to sell unused piece 

DEADWOOD, S.D. – An artist who created a bronze sculpture for Kevin Costner is suing the actor to force him to sell the work, which was supposed to be displayed by 2010.

Peggy Detmers, who was paid $350,000, testified that she spent more than six years creating the sculpture of 14 bison and three American Indian hunters for a resort Costner had planned to open in South Dakota’s Black Hills.

The Rapid City Journal says Detmers values the sculpture at $2.2 million.

Costner says he still wants to build the resort he planned 20 years ago. Meanwhile, he spent $6 million to build a visitors’ center and create a display site for the sculpture.

Costner filmed much of “Dances with Wolves” in South Dakota.

Rapper admits death role 

NEW YORK – A rapper once signed to a Jay-Z-run label admitted Wednesday to playing a role in a deadly stabbing in an apartment building lobby.

Tru Life, born Robert Rosado, pleaded guilty to gang assault in a June 2009 attack that killed Christopher Guerrero and wounded another man, Jason Gray. The rapper’s brother Marcus Rosado pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the attack, which police said spiraled out of an argument at a nightclub.

The 34-year-old rapper’s plea deal calls for eight years in prison. His 39-year-old brother is expected to get 10 years.