Ryder’s lawyers undecided on whether to get actress to take stand

AFTER four extraordinary days of prosecution testimony about cut sensor tags and ripped designer clothing, actress Winona Ryder’s lawyers are due to start their defence case — leaving open the tantalising prospect of whether the actress will take the witness stand.

Ryder, 31, has so far sat silently through her trial on shoplifting charges, often shaking her head or glaring at store security officers as they related their versions of her ill-fated shopping spree at the posh Saks Fifth Avenue store in Beverly Hills.

The “Girl, Interrupted” star denies charges of stealing some $5,500 worth of designer tops, handbags, socks, hats and hair accessories during a trip to the store last December. She could face up to three years if convicted, but her lawyer Mark Geragos said on Thursday he was still undecided on whether to have the actress take centre stage.

“I can’t tell you now. I’m gonna talk to her,” Geragos told reporters when asked if Ryder would take the witness stand. Geragos is expected to call at least three witnesses, including a Beverly Hills police detective.

Most of Ryder’s visit to the store was captured on a now famous 90-minute store surveillance tape, which shows the petite star walking around laden with several shopping bags while balancing piles of merchandise over her arm, or under a large garment bag.

Ryder is not seen stealing anything on the tape. The most damaging testimony has come from a female Saks security officer, who said she peeked at Ryder through the slats of a dressing room door and saw her on the floor, with a bleeding finger, cutting sensor tags off handbags worth hundreds of dollars.

In the 10 months since Ryder’s arrest, Geragos has suggested that the incident was a misunderstanding, that she had receipts for the allegedly stolen items, and that Saks staff recognised her as a celebrity and “got out of control”.

During cross-examination this week, Geragos accused Saks witnesses and a Beverly Hills police officer of perjury as he sought to expose inconsistencies in their initial statements to police and prosecutors. But his tactics have drawn three public rebukes from the judge. “Mr Geragos. I’ve told you before. I don’t find this funny,” Beverly Hills Superior Court Judge Elden Fox told the celebrity lawyer on Thursday after one barbed exchange. Geragos has also accused Saks staff of mistreating Ryder in the store’s basement office after detaining her.

All the witnesses have roundly denied these accusations, stating that Ryder was calm, polite and co-operative.