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American Morning
Interview With Michael Bryant
Aired November 01, 2002 - 07:42 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: The prosecution has rested in the Winona Ryder shoplifting trial. Today, the defense gets its turn to put on its case. Ryder's lawyer has suggested that one of the security guards who gave such damaging testimony against the actress may have been driven by another motive: a Hollywood movie deal.
And "Extra's" Michael Bryant, who happens to be an attorney, joins us now from Hollywood.
Good morning, Michael.
MICHAEL BRYANT, "EXTRA" CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Ms. Zahn. How are you?
ZAHN: I am fine. It makes me feel so old when you call me "Ms. Zahn."
BRYANT: OK, well maybe --
ZAHN: Just call me "Paula," Michael, OK?
BRYANT: Somebody I run into this early in the morning I should know by their first name, right?
ZAHN: Exactly.
BRYANT: Paula, good morning.
ZAHN: Let's talk about the testimony of Colleen Rainey. Did Mark Geragos do a good job of making the jurors potentially believe that her testimony was all about getting either a book deal or a movie deal?
BRYANT: Well, he tried, and he did a good job in an attempt to poke some holes in her testimony, because you know, it sounded good, hey, you're getting paid for this story, you're getting like a fortune, you and your boyfriend, now husband, have gotten together, and you're trying to create this project. But there really wasn't enough evidence, in my opinion, to suggest that she had done maybe anything more than talk about it.
But what I think he did do that was pretty effective was point out that in these reports that these security people write, they're supposed to cover all of the details of, you know, the incident. But the report written by Ms. Rainey, the first report said nothing about her being able to see the actress through the slats in the door, to see all of the very incriminating things that Ms. Rainey testified to seeing, you know, the cutting off of the tags and the stuffing of goods into the bag.
So, he called into question those issues by saying, why aren't they in your report? If they're important, they're going to be in your report, and they weren't.
So, I think that was much more effective than this idea that, well, she's going to get rich on this story.
ZAHN: He also had a string of questions about why it was -- he accused her of rifling through Winona Ryder's purse, perhaps even looking for phone numbers of people like Keanu Reeves. What was that all about?
BRYANT: You know, it's kind of strange. Sometimes I think when you are attacking a witness -- as defense attorneys must, it's in the nature of the adversarial process -- you come up with questions kind of like, have you stopped beating your wife? It's a question that you can't answer right or wrong, but you've planted some idea in the jury's mind.
He way saying things as outrageous, I thought, as, didn't you call her the "B" word, didn't you throw a Chapstick at her? I mean, they seemed so outrageous, and Ms. Rainey responded as if they were outrageous, that you just have to wonder if he really had any reasonable belief that those things happened, although ethically, he has to have some good faith belief, or he can't ask those kinds of questions.
ZAHN: Now, there was also a hearing yesterday, Michael, to potentially unseal some documents that the media wants to get its hands on. Where could that take this trial?
BRYANT: Well, at this point, probably it's not going to make a difference. The judge has done something very clever, and that is he's held a hearing saying, we're not going to talk about things like Ms. Ryder's alleged prior bad acts.
In other words, her history, if there is one, of shoplifting: I sealed those records, because the public doesn't need to hear that stuff, because you media, you're bad, you're bad people, and you're going to be telling potential jurors, at that time, and now current jurors, you're going to tell them what those reports said. And that's going to taint this jury, and I'm not going to sequester this jury. I'm not going to call or declare a mistrial. So, I'm going to seal all of that paperwork. You're not going to get it, and if you bad media people aren't going to get it, then this jury is going to stay as untainted as I can possibly keep them, so Ms. Ryder can get a fair trial.
ZAHN: In closing here this morning, I understand you think Winona Ryder is just itching to testify. Why do you think that?
BRYANT: Well, I think -- first of all, I think because she is a performer, and I think at this point in this role, she's had no lines. She wants some lines. And I think she's anxious to tell her side of the story, and I think from the evidence that's been presented at this point she needs to tell her side of the story. That jury wants to hear from her lips, I didn't do it, or I did it for this movie role, or whatever story she wants to go with, they want to hear it from her.
ZAHN: Michael Bryant, good to see you.
BRYANT: Nice to see you, Paula.
ZAHN: You can call me "Paula" next week, Mr. Bryant.
BRYANT: Yes, I will, Paula.
ZAHN: Thank you. Have a great weekend, and thanks for getting up so early for us this morning.
BRYANT: You bet.
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 1, 2002 - 07:42 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The prosecution has rested in the Winona Ryder shoplifting trial. Today, the defense gets its turn to put on its case. Ryder's lawyer has suggested that one of the security guards who gave such damaging testimony against the actress may have been driven by another motive: a Hollywood movie deal.
And "Extra's" Michael Bryant, who happens to be an attorney, joins us now from Hollywood.
Good morning, Michael.
MICHAEL BRYANT, "EXTRA" CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Ms. Zahn. How are you?
ZAHN: I am fine. It makes me feel so old when you call me "Ms. Zahn."
BRYANT: OK, well maybe --
ZAHN: Just call me "Paula," Michael, OK?
BRYANT: Somebody I run into this early in the morning I should know by their first name, right?
ZAHN: Exactly.
BRYANT: Paula, good morning.
ZAHN: Let's talk about the testimony of Colleen Rainey. Did Mark Geragos do a good job of making the jurors potentially believe that her testimony was all about getting either a book deal or a movie deal?
BRYANT: Well, he tried, and he did a good job in an attempt to poke some holes in her testimony, because you know, it sounded good, hey, you're getting paid for this story, you're getting like a fortune, you and your boyfriend, now husband, have gotten together, and you're trying to create this project. But there really wasn't enough evidence, in my opinion, to suggest that she had done maybe anything more than talk about it.
But what I think he did do that was pretty effective was point out that in these reports that these security people write, they're supposed to cover all of the details of, you know, the incident. But the report written by Ms. Rainey, the first report said nothing about her being able to see the actress through the slats in the door, to see all of the very incriminating things that Ms. Rainey testified to seeing, you know, the cutting off of the tags and the stuffing of goods into the bag.
So, he called into question those issues by saying, why aren't they in your report? If they're important, they're going to be in your report, and they weren't.
So, I think that was much more effective than this idea that, well, she's going to get rich on this story.
ZAHN: He also had a string of questions about why it was -- he accused her of rifling through Winona Ryder's purse, perhaps even looking for phone numbers of people like Keanu Reeves. What was that all about?
BRYANT: You know, it's kind of strange. Sometimes I think when you are attacking a witness -- as defense attorneys must, it's in the nature of the adversarial process -- you come up with questions kind of like, have you stopped beating your wife? It's a question that you can't answer right or wrong, but you've planted some idea in the jury's mind.
He way saying things as outrageous, I thought, as, didn't you call her the "B" word, didn't you throw a Chapstick at her? I mean, they seemed so outrageous, and Ms. Rainey responded as if they were outrageous, that you just have to wonder if he really had any reasonable belief that those things happened, although ethically, he has to have some good faith belief, or he can't ask those kinds of questions.
ZAHN: Now, there was also a hearing yesterday, Michael, to potentially unseal some documents that the media wants to get its hands on. Where could that take this trial?
BRYANT: Well, at this point, probably it's not going to make a difference. The judge has done something very clever, and that is he's held a hearing saying, we're not going to talk about things like Ms. Ryder's alleged prior bad acts.
In other words, her history, if there is one, of shoplifting: I sealed those records, because the public doesn't need to hear that stuff, because you media, you're bad, you're bad people, and you're going to be telling potential jurors, at that time, and now current jurors, you're going to tell them what those reports said. And that's going to taint this jury, and I'm not going to sequester this jury. I'm not going to call or declare a mistrial. So, I'm going to seal all of that paperwork. You're not going to get it, and if you bad media people aren't going to get it, then this jury is going to stay as untainted as I can possibly keep them, so Ms. Ryder can get a fair trial.
ZAHN: In closing here this morning, I understand you think Winona Ryder is just itching to testify. Why do you think that?
BRYANT: Well, I think -- first of all, I think because she is a performer, and I think at this point in this role, she's had no lines. She wants some lines. And I think she's anxious to tell her side of the story, and I think from the evidence that's been presented at this point she needs to tell her side of the story. That jury wants to hear from her lips, I didn't do it, or I did it for this movie role, or whatever story she wants to go with, they want to hear it from her.
ZAHN: Michael Bryant, good to see you.
BRYANT: Nice to see you, Paula.
ZAHN: You can call me "Paula" next week, Mr. Bryant.
BRYANT: Yes, I will, Paula.
ZAHN: Thank you. Have a great weekend, and thanks for getting up so early for us this morning.
BRYANT: You bet.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
