L.A. County joins surge of courts offering veterans convicted of drug offenses or nonviolent crimes counseling and treatment instead of jail. But it's not a free pass, the judge warns.

Michael Baldwin, a veteran of the U.S. Army and Marine Corps, sat in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom dressed in a very different uniform from the ones he wore serving his country in Guam, Japan and Germany.

Clad in blue jail scrubs, the 44-year-old faced the possibility of prison for stealing perfume and cologne from department stores.