Winona Ryder Heads To Preliminary Trial
A preliminary hearing today will show if there's enough evidence to bring Winona Ryder to trial. The actress is charged with grand theft, commercial burglary, vandalism and possession of a controlled substance.
Ryder was arrested Dec. 12, 2001, outside Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills after allegedly shoplifting nearly $4,800 in clothing. Her preliminary hearing has been postponed four times since Ryder's arrest.
Meanwhile, Ryder has made a few well-placed public comments about her situation in the last few months. The star graces the latest cover of W magazine wearing a "Free Winona" T-shirt like those being sold by street vendors in Hollywood.
As she recently hosted the season finale of Saturday Night Live, the actress made jokes about her highly publicized arrest.
"You know, people have been acting a little strange around here," Ryder joked on NBC's Saturday Night Live. "You know, there's, like, a lot of, like, locking of doors and shifting eyes and a lot of frisking."
Ryder has pleaded innocent to theft, burglary, vandalism and possession of a controlled substance, the painkiller Oxycodone. She has been free on $20,000 bail.
Caught on Tape?
A store surveillance tape shows the star browsing through Saks on Dec. 12, but whether or not the tape shows her shoplifting has been disputed.
At the time charges were filed, the district attorney's office quoted police as saying Ryder had been seen on a closed-circuit camera using scissors to clip security tags from merchandise. But Ryder's lawyer, Mark Geragos, told The Orlando Sentinel that there's nothing incriminating on the tape. "Contrary to the public perception, this tape exonerates her," Geragos told the newspaper in March. "I'd say this is a prosecution, interrupted."
ABCNews' Senior Legal Correspondent Cynthia McFadden said Ryder was discovered outside the store in December with merchandise in her possession for which she had no receipts. Store security guards also say they witnessed Ryder shoplifting.
When it comes to the tape, McFadden says it may not be the strongest piece of evidence in the prosecution's case.
"The tape advertised as very damaging with conclusive evidence that she did in fact shoplift doesn't seem to be there," McFadden said on ABCNews' Good Morning America.
If the judge decides there is enough evidence for Ryder to go to trial, the 30-year-old actress could face up to three years and eight months in prison if convicted, but she could also be sentenced to probation.
