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American Morning

Winona Ryder Case Now in Hands of Jury

Aired November 05, 2002 - 07:41   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.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The Winona Ryder case is now in the hands of the jury. Ryder is accused of stealing more than $5,000 worth of merchandise from Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills.
So, how does it look for the actress, now that all of the testimony has been heard?

Joining us now from Los Angeles is "Extra" correspondent Michael Bryant.

Good morning.

MICHAEL BRYANT, "EXTRA" CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. What have you done to Paula? Where is she?

COSTELLO: Pardon? I'm sorry. I didn't catch that.

BRYANT: Where's Paula? What have you done to her?

COSTELLO: Oh, she's working later today...

BRYANT: Oh.

COSTELLO: ... and we're going to work her all night long.

BRYANT: Oh, that's right, the big vote.

COSTELLO: And she's probably sleeping.

BRYANT: The big vote, yes.

COSTELLO: Exactly.

BRYANT: Well, the big vote, of course, that I'm here to...

COSTELLO: Hey, let's talk...

BRYANT: I just want to tell you, the big vote I'm here to talk about is much more important, of course. It deals with, you know, $80 socks and $200 hair bows, but it's a vote nonetheless.

COSTELLO: Oh, it's just been a crazy trial.

BRYANT: Yes, it has.

COSTELLO: Hey, let's talk about the closing arguments, because from the -- I don't know -- in listening to the prosecutor, she just seemed so cruel. She actually came up with a top 10 David Letterman style list on why Winona Ryder is guilty. How did the jury react to that?

BRYANT: I think they were mildly entertained. I mean, Ann Rundle, the assistant D.A. handling the prosecution, is not a real flashy personality. She's not like Mark Geragos, who is gregarious. He's a little more with the snappy phases.

So, I think she tried to pick that up a notch to stray away from her more clean-cut A-leads-to-B-leads-to-C-type presentation.

COSTELLO: Well, some of the things on the list...

BRYANT: So, for her, the top 10 list is probably wild.

COSTELLO: Some of the top 10 -- some of the things on the top 10 list, I should say -- I mean, No. 3 was, "Crime is OK if your director tells you to do it." No. 1 was, "Only poor people steal."

I don't know. Maybe I'm the only one in the world who feels sorry for Winona Ryder, but this seems cruel.

BRYANT: Well, it really didn't come off that way. It came off maybe slightly flip. I don't know that it came off cruel. And maybe because this case is not, you know, life-and-death for anybody, it seemed maybe more appropriate in the courtroom than it might look as you examine it after the fact.

It really came off fine. It wasn't bad at all, and she did a very good job, I think, of putting the pieces together. But I think she has some good pieces to put together.

COSTELLO: Oh, definitely. Why didn't Winona Ryder take the stand, do you think?

BRYANT: Fear -- not hers; her attorneys, I think. I mean, she really is anxious to tell the story, and if you don't know -- it's an old saying, if you don't know what the witness is going to say, don't ask the question. And that's true even of your client.

So, if you're not sure exactly of what you might elicit from your client or where that testimony might go, then you don't want to ask the questions. And if you think you've created reasonable doubt -- and Mark Geragos believes he has certainly created reasonable doubt -- then you don't risk that by putting your client on the stand.

COSTELLO: He only called four witnesses, though. I mean, is that a vigorous defense?

BRYANT: Well, it was a bizarre defense, and here's why: There was no direct attack on the evidence. You don't have somebody saying, no, she didn't clip those tags off of purses. I was with her every minute she was in the dressing room. Nothing to directly attack the security peoples' testimony that she did remove security tags, that she did stuff items into her bag. That would be a direct attack on the evidence. He had the old end-around, the collateral attack, don't believe any witnesses. That's the crux of Mark Geragos' argument, don't believe anybody. They all have motives to lie. The chief woman security officer who is going to write a book or make a movie or make some money on this deal, don't believe her. The chief security guy has a friend who said he was out to get Winona Ryder, so don't believe him. They're all liars.

And that's a tough argument to sell, because it is a collateral attack. You're coming end-around, you're not attacking the evidence head-on.

COSTELLO: Gotcha. Well, we'll see how the jury handles that information from the defense and the prosecution, because it is deciding now.

Michael Bryant, thank you very much.

BRYANT: My pleasure.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.







Aired November 5, 2002 - 07:41   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The Winona Ryder case is now in the hands of the jury. Ryder is accused of stealing more than $5,000 worth of merchandise from Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills.
So, how does it look for the actress, now that all of the testimony has been heard?

Joining us now from Los Angeles is "Extra" correspondent Michael Bryant.

Good morning.

MICHAEL BRYANT, "EXTRA" CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. What have you done to Paula? Where is she?

COSTELLO: Pardon? I'm sorry. I didn't catch that.

BRYANT: Where's Paula? What have you done to her?

COSTELLO: Oh, she's working later today...

BRYANT: Oh.

COSTELLO: ... and we're going to work her all night long.

BRYANT: Oh, that's right, the big vote.

COSTELLO: And she's probably sleeping.

BRYANT: The big vote, yes.

COSTELLO: Exactly.

BRYANT: Well, the big vote, of course, that I'm here to...

COSTELLO: Hey, let's talk...

BRYANT: I just want to tell you, the big vote I'm here to talk about is much more important, of course. It deals with, you know, $80 socks and $200 hair bows, but it's a vote nonetheless.

COSTELLO: Oh, it's just been a crazy trial.

BRYANT: Yes, it has.

COSTELLO: Hey, let's talk about the closing arguments, because from the -- I don't know -- in listening to the prosecutor, she just seemed so cruel. She actually came up with a top 10 David Letterman style list on why Winona Ryder is guilty. How did the jury react to that?

BRYANT: I think they were mildly entertained. I mean, Ann Rundle, the assistant D.A. handling the prosecution, is not a real flashy personality. She's not like Mark Geragos, who is gregarious. He's a little more with the snappy phases.

So, I think she tried to pick that up a notch to stray away from her more clean-cut A-leads-to-B-leads-to-C-type presentation.

COSTELLO: Well, some of the things on the list...

BRYANT: So, for her, the top 10 list is probably wild.

COSTELLO: Some of the top 10 -- some of the things on the top 10 list, I should say -- I mean, No. 3 was, "Crime is OK if your director tells you to do it." No. 1 was, "Only poor people steal."

I don't know. Maybe I'm the only one in the world who feels sorry for Winona Ryder, but this seems cruel.

BRYANT: Well, it really didn't come off that way. It came off maybe slightly flip. I don't know that it came off cruel. And maybe because this case is not, you know, life-and-death for anybody, it seemed maybe more appropriate in the courtroom than it might look as you examine it after the fact.

It really came off fine. It wasn't bad at all, and she did a very good job, I think, of putting the pieces together. But I think she has some good pieces to put together.

COSTELLO: Oh, definitely. Why didn't Winona Ryder take the stand, do you think?

BRYANT: Fear -- not hers; her attorneys, I think. I mean, she really is anxious to tell the story, and if you don't know -- it's an old saying, if you don't know what the witness is going to say, don't ask the question. And that's true even of your client.

So, if you're not sure exactly of what you might elicit from your client or where that testimony might go, then you don't want to ask the questions. And if you think you've created reasonable doubt -- and Mark Geragos believes he has certainly created reasonable doubt -- then you don't risk that by putting your client on the stand.

COSTELLO: He only called four witnesses, though. I mean, is that a vigorous defense?

BRYANT: Well, it was a bizarre defense, and here's why: There was no direct attack on the evidence. You don't have somebody saying, no, she didn't clip those tags off of purses. I was with her every minute she was in the dressing room. Nothing to directly attack the security peoples' testimony that she did remove security tags, that she did stuff items into her bag. That would be a direct attack on the evidence. He had the old end-around, the collateral attack, don't believe any witnesses. That's the crux of Mark Geragos' argument, don't believe anybody. They all have motives to lie. The chief woman security officer who is going to write a book or make a movie or make some money on this deal, don't believe her. The chief security guy has a friend who said he was out to get Winona Ryder, so don't believe him. They're all liars.

And that's a tough argument to sell, because it is a collateral attack. You're coming end-around, you're not attacking the evidence head-on.

COSTELLO: Gotcha. Well, we'll see how the jury handles that information from the defense and the prosecution, because it is deciding now.

Michael Bryant, thank you very much.

BRYANT: My pleasure.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.