(COMTEX) A: Winona Ryder ordered to stand trial
A: Winona Ryder ordered to stand trial
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., Jun 06, 2002 (United Press International via COMTEX) --
Oscar-nominated actress Winona Ryder was ordered Thursday to stand trial on
shoplifting and drug possession charges in connection with her December 2001
arrest at Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills.
Beverly Hills Superior Court Judge Elden Fox set a date of June 14 for a formal
arraignment for Ryder.
"There is sufficient cause to believe that Ms. Winona Ryder is guilty and that
she be ordered held to answer," said the judge.
Prosecutors presented evidence they said shows Ryder stole more than $6,000
worth of merchandise. The drug charge involves alleged possession of the
painkiller oxycodone without a prescription.
A store security officer testified at a preliminary hearing for Ryder that she
saw the star of "Girl, Interrupted" clipping security tags from merchandise she
is accused of stealing. Colleen Rainey testified that she was looking through
slats in a dressing room door and saw Ryder use scissors to cut tags from two
purses and stuff the purses into her shopping bag.
Rainey also said she saw Ryder try to remove anti-theft tags from two other
purses -- and that the actress cut her finger and left a blood spot in the
bottom of one of the bags.
Kenneth Evans, the head of security at the store, testified that when he first
saw Ryder on a store surveillance camera he mistook her for a bag lady --
because she carrying several bags and had on a long cashmere coat. He also told
the court that six anti-theft tags that had evidently been cut off of
merchandise were found hidden in the store the day after Ryder was arrested --
including three on which the cut marks matched items Ryder was holding when she
was arrested.
There has been some dispute about exactly what the surveillance tape shows.
Ryder is seen browsing in the store, and when prosecutors filed charges against
her they quoted police as saying that the actress could be seen on tape cutting
security tags from merchandise. Ryder's lawyer, Mark Geragos, said the tape
shows no such thing.
"Contrary to the public perception, this tape exonerates her," Geragos told The
Orlando Sentinel in March. "I'd say this is a prosecution, interrupted."
Speaking with reporters outside the courthouse after the hearing, Geragos said
the prosecution witnesses "lied through their teeth" and characterized their
testimony as "close to full-blown perjury."
He said Ryder didn't steal the merchandise she is accused of stealing, and he
believes the store "targeted" her.
"I've got evidence that Saks targeted her," he said.
The judge also ordered journalists Thursday not to come within 10 feet of Ryder,
after she was injured outside the courthouse Tuesday -- the first day of her
preliminary hearing. Geragos said she fractured her right elbow in a collision,
possibly with a camera lens.
The 30-year-old actress is free on $20,000 bail after pleading not guilty to
theft, burglary, vandalism and possession of a controlled substance -- the
painkiller Oxycodone.
Ryder -- who opens with Adam Sandler June 28 in "Mr. Deeds" -- became a star in
the 1980s with appearances in "Beetlejuice," "Heathers" and "Great Balls of
Fire!" She was nominated twice for the Oscar -- for best actress in "Little
Women" (1994), and best supporting actress in "The Age of Innocence" (1993).
Mark Klaas -- whose 12-year-old daughter Polly was abducted from her Northern
California home in 1993 and killed by a convicted kidnapper who is now on death
row -- attended Thursday's hearing. He told reporters afterward he was there to
show his support for Ryder.
"I think it's terrible what they're doing to her," said Klaas. "I've seen her
character assassinated from the 12th of December on."
Ryder offered a $200,000 reward to help in the search for Polly Klaas. Mark
Klaas called Ryder a close friend and a "woman of great character."
Copyright 2002 by United Press International.
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