USA: JURY SELECTED FOR START OF TRIAL OF FILM STAR WINONA RYDER ON CHARGES OF SHOPLIFTING

Record ID: 865984

  • Title: USA: JURY SELECTED FOR START OF TRIAL OF FILM STAR WINONA RYDER ON CHARGES OF SHOPLIFTING
  • Date: 24th October 2002
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (FILE) (REUTERS) VARIOUS, RYDER RECEIVING HER STAR AT THE HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME VARIOUS, RYDER AT ANTHONY HOPKINS' WALK OF FAME CEREMONY
  • Embargoed: 8th November 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
  • City:
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz
  • Reuters ID: LVA524EAIYX099W03WDX0J7B9H3M
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: Jury selection got underway on Thursday (October 24) in the trial on shoplifting charges of actress Winona Ryder in a bid to find a panel untainted by the publicity surrounding the 10 month-long case.
    About 40 prospective jurors were given questionnaires at Beverly Hills Superior Court focusing on media coverage in what has become one of the most high-profile cases of celebrity justice in years.
    Ryder, who turns 31 next Tuesday, has pleaded innocent to charges of stealing some $6,000 (USD) of designer merchandise from the posh Saks Fifth Avenue store in Beverly Hills last December. A fourth count of illegal possession of the painkiller Oxycodone was dropped by the prosecution last week.
    Jurors were asked six questions, including whether they had any sympathy or antipathy toward Ryder herself, and if they had read any of the numerous media stories about the case.
    Jury selection is expected to resume on Friday afternoon.
    The "Girl, Interrupted" star, dressed in a floral dress and a pink sweater, entered a formal not guilty plea to the amended charge sheet but was ushered in and out of court saying nothing to reporters.
    Much of Thursday's court hearing was taken up with behind-closed-doors discussions of pretrial motions between attorneys and the judge.
    Details of the discussions were not revealed, but Ryder's lawyers were incensed by media reports on Wednesday that the prosecution planned to call employees from upscale stores Barneys and Neiman Marcus to support a motion regarding possible "prior acts" by Ryder.
    The "prior acts" motion had been filed under seal and the judge had been expected to rule on whether it would be admissible at trial.
    The trial went ahead after plea bargain negotiations collapsed last month. If found guilty, Ryder faces a prison term of up to three years on each of the three charges of grand theft, burglary and vandalism.
    At a preliminary hearing in June, a Saks security investigator said she saw Ryder kneeling on a dressing room floor in the store cutting security tags off merchandise with a pair of scissors.
    Ryder's lawyer, Mark Geragos, has accused Saks staff of lying and accuses prosecutors of "having an ax to grind"
    against the actress because of her celebrity.
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