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American Morning
Interview With Michael Bryant
Aired October 31, 2002 - 07:50 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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Jurors in the shoplifting trial of Winona Ryder are hearing a lot of explanations that they'll have to sort out.
A security guard from the department store where she was arrested testified yesterday that she actually saw the actress cutting security tags from merchandise. The guard quoted Ryder as saying, "Didn't my assistant pay for it?"
And Ryder has also said she was shoplifting to prepare for a movie role.
Michael Bryant is covering the trial for the TV show, "Extra." He joins us from Los Angeles this morning.
Good morning.
MICHAEL BRYANT, "EXTRA" CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Ms. Zahn. You know, we're up this early to talk about shoplifting, you know, rise and shine, let's talk about shoplifting.
ZAHN: Yes, let's talk about shoplifting. So, let's talk about the key testimony yesterday from the prosecution witness. How powerful was it?
BRYANT: Very powerful, because it's the only real testimony we've heard and probably will hear, where somebody sees her actually do something she's been charged with. It's not circumstantial. It's not putting pieces together to come to a conclusion.
The testimony is, I saw her on her knees in the dressing room, cutting or attempting to cut tags off of a very expensive purse. It's two of them she was allegedly successful in cutting off; two of them she was not so successful, and left behind in the dressing room.
ZAHN: So, has this security guard maintained his version of the events that day of the facts?
BRYANT: Yes, this is the female agent. Her name is Colleen Rainey, and she was sent into the women's dressing room by her supervisor.
And I was at the preliminary hearing as well back in June, and her testimony was pretty much the same this time. She's a little smoother now than she was then, but it's consistent that she says Winona had a kit that she used to conceal items she had picked up along her way through the store, and that kit consisted of the scissors, tissue paper that she kept in one of her extra tote bags that was not from the purchases at Saks before any of the alleged theft.
So, she would cover items she had picked up with tissue paper and put them back in another bag.
ZAHN: So, you say she's gotten a little stronger along the way. So, you've heard the good witness for the prosecution.
What about this guy Ken Evans?
BRYANT: You know, he's always been, you know, kind of a friendly, seemingly -- friendly guy that you don't really distrust, but he seems a little disheveled, a little uncertain about some of his testimony. And Mark Geragos is Winona Ryder's attorney, and certainly tried to exploit that.
But he comes across as a guy that you want to believe. He doesn't seem like a jerk or a guy that's making stuff up. But his manner is a little out of control. His documentation has been questioned, some of the things he remembers or doesn't remember. He's changed his testimony from the preliminary hearing, and that's always going to get you in trouble.
So, he is a little shakier than Ms. Rainey, who is the only real eyewitness.
ZAHN: Right. So, this guy just happened to be on duty that day.
BRYANT: Well, he's the guy running the human videogame there. He's got the joystick with all of the cameras. He's the guy that heads the security. He's been with the store seven years. And he followed her around the store once he decided that she had something not quite right about her as a customer, a little suspicious.
ZAHN: So, you're looking at his videotape, and the jury saw this yesterday, 90 minutes of it, but they don't actually see what Winona does once she gets into the room. So, how does the prosecution handle that?
BRYANT: Right. And that's where Ms. Rainey comes along. That's the woman that we've been talking about who actually saw through the slats in the dressing room door Ms. Ryder in the position she was below the sightline of the door. And this is what Mark Garagos is going to attack.
He's said, look, how can you just happen to be in the right position, Ms. Rainey, to see my client and she's conveniently, for you, down on the floor in a way that the slats provide the perfect sight line from your standing position down to the floor to see Ms. Ryder cutting these tags off of these different products? I mean, come on, it's unbelievable.
He's also going to suggest that she is only testifying that way, because the Beverly Hills police said they have that activity on tape, and now that we know, because "Extra" got the tape months ago, looked at it, it's not on the tape. And now, the jury is seeing its' not on the tape.
So, there's this convenient witness that now testifies to the things the tape does not contain.
ZAHN: So, besides being a correspondent for "Extra," you happen to be an attorney yourself. How do you think it's looking now four days later for Winona?
BRYANT: Well, you have to remember that it never looks worse for any defendant, Winona Ryder or otherwise, it never looks worse than the time the prosecution is wrapping up their case. And that's the way it should be. If the prosecution doesn't have a case, they shouldn't be in trial.
So, right now, we're hearing all of their good stuff, and Ms. Rainey is certainly their best stuff. So, it doesn't look good, but having said that, Mark Geragos knows how to tear apart witnesses. He'll have a few things to say, and he does have some interesting arguments.
ZAHN: Well, we appreciate your insights and we just love to wake you up every morning about 3:00 a.m., so you can...
BRYANT: Hey, thanks.
(CROSSTALK)
ZAHN: ... and you know, do the little an update for us.
BRYANT: My pleasure.
ZAHN: Is it a date?
BRYANT: My pleasure. I'll do a little fashion -- I'll do some fashion next time.
ZAHN: OK, terrific. Michael Bryant, good to see you -- thanks for your time this morning.
BRYANT: Thank you.
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 October 31, 2002 - 07:50 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Jurors in the shoplifting trial of Winona Ryder are hearing a lot of explanations that they'll have to sort out.
A security guard from the department store where she was arrested testified yesterday that she actually saw the actress cutting security tags from merchandise. The guard quoted Ryder as saying, "Didn't my assistant pay for it?"
And Ryder has also said she was shoplifting to prepare for a movie role.
Michael Bryant is covering the trial for the TV show, "Extra." He joins us from Los Angeles this morning.
Good morning.
MICHAEL BRYANT, "EXTRA" CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Ms. Zahn. You know, we're up this early to talk about shoplifting, you know, rise and shine, let's talk about shoplifting.
ZAHN: Yes, let's talk about shoplifting. So, let's talk about the key testimony yesterday from the prosecution witness. How powerful was it?
BRYANT: Very powerful, because it's the only real testimony we've heard and probably will hear, where somebody sees her actually do something she's been charged with. It's not circumstantial. It's not putting pieces together to come to a conclusion.
The testimony is, I saw her on her knees in the dressing room, cutting or attempting to cut tags off of a very expensive purse. It's two of them she was allegedly successful in cutting off; two of them she was not so successful, and left behind in the dressing room.
ZAHN: So, has this security guard maintained his version of the events that day of the facts?
BRYANT: Yes, this is the female agent. Her name is Colleen Rainey, and she was sent into the women's dressing room by her supervisor.
And I was at the preliminary hearing as well back in June, and her testimony was pretty much the same this time. She's a little smoother now than she was then, but it's consistent that she says Winona had a kit that she used to conceal items she had picked up along her way through the store, and that kit consisted of the scissors, tissue paper that she kept in one of her extra tote bags that was not from the purchases at Saks before any of the alleged theft.
So, she would cover items she had picked up with tissue paper and put them back in another bag.
ZAHN: So, you say she's gotten a little stronger along the way. So, you've heard the good witness for the prosecution.
What about this guy Ken Evans?
BRYANT: You know, he's always been, you know, kind of a friendly, seemingly -- friendly guy that you don't really distrust, but he seems a little disheveled, a little uncertain about some of his testimony. And Mark Geragos is Winona Ryder's attorney, and certainly tried to exploit that.
But he comes across as a guy that you want to believe. He doesn't seem like a jerk or a guy that's making stuff up. But his manner is a little out of control. His documentation has been questioned, some of the things he remembers or doesn't remember. He's changed his testimony from the preliminary hearing, and that's always going to get you in trouble.
So, he is a little shakier than Ms. Rainey, who is the only real eyewitness.
ZAHN: Right. So, this guy just happened to be on duty that day.
BRYANT: Well, he's the guy running the human videogame there. He's got the joystick with all of the cameras. He's the guy that heads the security. He's been with the store seven years. And he followed her around the store once he decided that she had something not quite right about her as a customer, a little suspicious.
ZAHN: So, you're looking at his videotape, and the jury saw this yesterday, 90 minutes of it, but they don't actually see what Winona does once she gets into the room. So, how does the prosecution handle that?
BRYANT: Right. And that's where Ms. Rainey comes along. That's the woman that we've been talking about who actually saw through the slats in the dressing room door Ms. Ryder in the position she was below the sightline of the door. And this is what Mark Garagos is going to attack.
He's said, look, how can you just happen to be in the right position, Ms. Rainey, to see my client and she's conveniently, for you, down on the floor in a way that the slats provide the perfect sight line from your standing position down to the floor to see Ms. Ryder cutting these tags off of these different products? I mean, come on, it's unbelievable.
He's also going to suggest that she is only testifying that way, because the Beverly Hills police said they have that activity on tape, and now that we know, because "Extra" got the tape months ago, looked at it, it's not on the tape. And now, the jury is seeing its' not on the tape.
So, there's this convenient witness that now testifies to the things the tape does not contain.
ZAHN: So, besides being a correspondent for "Extra," you happen to be an attorney yourself. How do you think it's looking now four days later for Winona?
BRYANT: Well, you have to remember that it never looks worse for any defendant, Winona Ryder or otherwise, it never looks worse than the time the prosecution is wrapping up their case. And that's the way it should be. If the prosecution doesn't have a case, they shouldn't be in trial.
So, right now, we're hearing all of their good stuff, and Ms. Rainey is certainly their best stuff. So, it doesn't look good, but having said that, Mark Geragos knows how to tear apart witnesses. He'll have a few things to say, and he does have some interesting arguments.
ZAHN: Well, we appreciate your insights and we just love to wake you up every morning about 3:00 a.m., so you can...
BRYANT: Hey, thanks.
(CROSSTALK)
ZAHN: ... and you know, do the little an update for us.
BRYANT: My pleasure.
ZAHN: Is it a date?
BRYANT: My pleasure. I'll do a little fashion -- I'll do some fashion next time.
ZAHN: OK, terrific. Michael Bryant, good to see you -- thanks for your time this morning.
BRYANT: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
