Winona Ryder found guilty of vandalism, theft

Winona Ryder has been convicted of stealing $5,500 worth of high-fashion merchandise from Saks Fifth Avenue last year.

Winona Ryder has been convicted of stealing $5,500 worth of high-fashion merchandise from Saks Fifth Avenue last year.

The jury found the 31-year-old guilty of felony grand theft and vandalism but cleared her of burglary.

The panel reached the verdict after 5 1/2 hours of deliberations over two days.

Ryder did not testify during the trial, which lasted two weeks.

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The prosecution told the jury that Ryder came to Saks with larceny on her mind, bringing shopping bags, a garment bag and scissors to snip security tags off items.

"She came, she stole, she left. End of story," Deputy District Attorney Ann Rundle said in her closing argument. "Nowhere does it say people steal because they have to. People steal out of greed, envy, spite, because it's there or for the thrill."

Jurors were shown videotape of Ryder moving through the store laden with goods, and Saks security workers testified that after she was detained, she apologetically told them a director had told her to shoplift to prepare for a movie role.

Her attorney denounced the security guards as liars even before the trial began.

At the start of her shopping trip, she paid more than $3,000 for a jacket and two blouses.

The defence said Ryder believed the store would keep her account "open" while she shopped and would charge her later. But there was no evidence of an account.

In closing arguments, defence attorney Mark Geragos suggested that the store, trying to avoid a lawsuit, conspired with employees to invent a story that would make Ryder appear to be a thief and vandal.

Geragos ridiculed the charge that Ryder vandalized merchandise by cutting holes in clothes when removing the security tags.

PA