|
||||||||
  |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ryder lawyer suggests frame-up
From Thelma Gutierrez
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A lawyer for actress Winona Ryder suggested Thursday that a Saks Fifth Avenue theft investigator might have had a financial motive to try to frame the actress for shoplifting. Attorney Mark Geragos said the husband of Colleen Rainey, the investigator, is a struggling screenwriter. He suggested Rainey might have framed the actress in hopes the couple could make money from a story about the alleged December 12 shoplifting. Rainey vehemently denied Geragos' allegations and testified she had never received money to talk about the story and had not sold her account of it to a tabloid magazine. Geragos showed the court paperwork detailing large deposits to the couple's bank account. Rainey, who no longer works for Saks, said she did not know where the money had come from, because her husband took care of all of their finances. Geragos also said that several key points of Rainey's testimony Wednesday -- that Ryder was seen taking scissors out of her purse, that she cut security tags off some items, and that when stopped, the actress said she was researching a movie role -- were details not listed on the initial incident report. Rainey testified she amended the report to include those points the day after the alleged shoplifting. According to the prosecution, the merchandise Ryder allegedly tried to steal December 12 was worth $5,560.40. Ryder, 31, the star of such films as "Girl, Interrupted" and "Little Women," is charged with felony grand theft, burglary and vandalism. She could be sentenced to up to three years in prison on each count if convicted. Rainey testified Wednesday that the actress apologized before her arrest, telling authorities she was researching a role and that she should have notified the store. Rainey said Ryder told her she was taking the items -- which included a $750 blouse and a $540 purse -- to research a role for a film called "Shopgirl." But when Beverly Hills police arrived, Rainey said she heard the actress tell them it was for a movie called "White Jazz." A saleswoman testified Wednesday that Ryder asked to be taken to a more private fitting room to try on her items, so she took the actress to an area of fitting rooms behind a curtain. At that point Rainey, who had been watching the security cameras, came down to see what Ryder was doing. Rainey said she went behind the curtain and saw Ryder through the slats of the fitting room. The actress knelt down, laid out the merchandise around her, and cut the bulky sensor tags from the clothing with a pair of orange-handled scissors, Rainey testified. In a security camera tape shown in court Tuesday, Ryder was seen walking out of the store with more than 20 items prosecutors said she stuffed into shopping bags in a fitting room. The tape does not show Ryder purchasing most of the items confiscated by security guards. A second saleswoman testified Ryder came out of the fitting room with just three items, having entered the room with many more. The woman said Ryder did not tell her someone else would be paying for the merchandise, or that she would pay for it later, as celebrities are sometimes allowed to do under store policy.
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
