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CNN Live Today

Winona Ryder's Court Hearing Today

Aired June 03, 2002 - 10:20   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: And a court hearing is scheduled in the next hour for actress Winona Ryder. It will determine whether she should stand trial for allegedly stealing several items from a Saks Fifth Avenue store in Beverly Hills.

Our Paul Clinton is outside the courthouse. He is in Beverly Hills not too far from that Saks store himself.

Paul, good morning.

PAUL CLINTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, how are you?

Yes, she was arrested on December 13 of last year for allegedly steeling a few items, yes, as you said, about amounting to over $4,700. She has four counts -- felony counts. She has a count of grand theft, a second degree burglary, vandalism because apparently $400 of merchandise was damaged and then possession of a prescription drug medication that she apparently did not have a prescription for in her purse.

Now her attorney denies all these charges. She did spend a lot of money that day and so she does have some receipts. He claims she has all of the receipts and she has a prescription for that medication. However, those have not been produced as of yet.

And the judge in this case, Eldon Fox (ph), is getting a little impatient. Winona Ryder's attorney has postponed this now four times. And they are saying that she must be here today. But we called her attorney yesterday at 3:00, and he said he was not sure at that point whether he was going to be bringing the actress to court today. So we'll see.

But it's been interesting over the last few weeks. She has been making concerted effort to sort of go out in the media, go on different television shows, cover of magazines and sort of mock the whole situation. In fact, she was on the finale of "Saturday Night Live" in May. And I think we have a little bit of that -- Daryn.

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CLINTON: Winona Ryder was on the show to promote her movie, "Mr. Deeds," which was with Adam Sandler. And there was -- they did a couple of skits to kind of mock the whole situation. There was a skit with Lauren Michaels (ph) when he walked into her dressing room. It looked like they were under a surveillance camera. And then he walked out of the dressing room, patting himself down like his wallet was missing.

Also, just the night before last, Saturday night, Winona was on the MTV Movie Awards. And this time she was actually with Adam. And again, they were promoting "Mr. Deeds," which opens up on June 28. And they made some allusions to the whole situation, although they never came out and said anything.

Winona's also been on the cover of "W" magazine with a big "Free Winona" T-shirt on.

So she's been having fun with the whole thing. Now whether that backfires, we shall see.

KAGAN: We will have to see the mood of the judge.

Meanwhile, Paul, I want to ask you about one television that she might not have known that she was on. I guess there's a security tape from the Saks store, but from what I hear, it might be a tape that actually helps Winona instead of the prosecution.

CLINTON: Yes, there is -- I mean her taking it lightly sort of reinforcing the fact that maybe, you know, she is innocent. Her attorney is saying that the surveillance tape that they have does not show a lot of the things that the charges indicate. There was no blood (ph), there was no cutting of tags that they have on camera. They have her wearing a hat at one point and forgetting about it with a price tag. Later the hat is seen without a price tag. Later the hat's gone totally. So there is something on that tape. Now whether it supports all the allegations that came out, I don't know.

KAGAN: Well it'll be interesting to see it. If there's one thing that's for sure is that courthouse behind you has seen plenty of celebrities through the years, Paul, through its courts.

CLINTON: I covered the Zsa Zsa trial right here.

KAGAN: Stories for another day, my friend.

Paul Clinton in...

CLINTON: All right.

KAGAN: ... Beverly Hills, thank you so much.

CLINTON: Good to see you.

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