Winona Ryder Sentencing Recommendation (Drudge)

Drudge ^ | 12/3/02 | The Smoking Gun.com

[NormsRevenge]

Prosecutors want a Los Angeles judge to sentence Winona Ryder to three years probation, direct the actress to pay fines and restitution in excess of $25,000, and order her to cooperate with probation officials in developing "a plan for both drug and psychiatric counseling," according to a new Los Angeles Superior Court filing. The below sentencing memorandum, filed yesterday (12/2) by deputy district attorney Ann Rundle, also asks Judge Elden Fox (who is scheduled to sentence Ryder this Friday) to order the actress to serve 480 hours of community service and to cease using aliases, specifically the handle "Emily Thompson." When the 31-year-old actress was arrested last December for shoplifting, Beverly Hills cops found Ryder carrying a remarkable array of painkillers (liquid Demerol, Percodan, Vicodin, Morphine Sulfate, etc.), some of which were prescribed to the Thompson alias. Prosecutors also want Ryder sentenced to a provision that would allow law enforcement officers to search "her person and property" at any time, "with or without a warrant or probable cause."

[wideawake]

Can you legally have medications prescribed to an alias?

[ewing]

Why does she use the name 'Emily Thompson?'

Is that an in joke of one of her characters names to check into hotels or something..

[Revolting cat!]

Not a bad set of penalties, but it's only a recommendation at this stage, and then, there is the little matter of those 5th row tickets to the upcoming Oscar ceremonies, with the names of Mr & Missus Trial Judge pre-printed on 'em!

[NormsRevenge]

If they ever re-make Sybil, a story of a woman wth severe multiple personality disorder, Winona has the job hands down. I wonder how many other "aliases" she uses ;-?

[Lorenb420]

Why does she use the name 'Emily Thompson?'

Found at the University of South Carolina, in the 'College of Liberal Arts Women Studies', the Emily Thompson Student Award

Possibly, it could refer to EMILY's List, which is a political network for pro-choice Democratic women candidates that raises early money to make women credible contenders.

Both are kind of a stretch, but that those were the most interesting matches on that name when I checked Google.

[ewing]

Could be a tribute to the Democratic organization, is she a far out wacko politically?

I know she was raised in a house where LSD use was present..

[You Dirty Rats]

This is Los Angeles, not reality.

The whole thing is a made-for-TV event.

Otherwise, the judge would simply say to this thief:

"Go to Jail"
"Go Directly to Jail"
"Do Not Pass Go"
"Do Not Collect $200"

[monkeyshine]

Why not? If she sees a doctor, she may not want the file to have her name on it. Or, the doctor may be sympathetic in that Winona does not want the pharmacy to know what she is taking. I can see several reasons why a famous person would want to keep this info private.

[wideawake]

Yeah - but I'll bet that if you or I wanted to get a prescription under a fake name, we'd run into a few difficulties.

[Britton J Wingfield]

She just needs some "tough love".

[Maximum Leader]

If I remember correctly, her birth name is Winona Horowitz. I guess Ryder is now her real last name and not just her stage name.

[NormsRevenge]

Reuters Update

Prosecutors: Ryder Needs Drug, Shoplifting Therapy

Tue Dec 3, 7:12 PM ET

By Jill Serjeant

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Prosecutors plan to ask that actress Winona Ryder (news) undergo drug and psychiatric counseling as part of her shoplifting sentence to be handed down on Friday, saying she was carrying eight different drugs when arrested -- some of them obtained under a different name.

Reuters Photo

According to court papers released on Tuesday, prosecutors are not seeking jail time for the Oscar-nominated star but are instead recommending that she be given three years probation, 60 days community service and a fine of $10,000.

Ryder was convicted last month on two counts of shoplifting some $5,500 of designer goods from the Saks Fifth Avenue store in Beverly Hills in December last year after a sensational 10-day jury trial.

Ryder, 31, star of "Girl, Interrupted" and "Age of Innocence," had pleaded not guilty but did not testify. Her lawyers accused both Saks and prosecutors of targeting her because of her celebrity.

But it emerged after the trial that Ryder had been involved three times since May 2000 in suspected shoplifting incidents at other posh department stores but had never been charged.

Legal documents released ahead of Ryder's Friday sentencing provided more startling details about her arrest after already humiliating testimony that she used scissors to cut Saks security tags off handbags and hair bows costing hundreds of dollars apiece.

According to the documents, Ryder was found with eight prescription drugs in her possession when booked by police at Saks. They included sedatives like Valium and Diazepam and opiates such as Vicoden and Oxycodone -- among the most commonly abused prescription drugs in the United States.

DIFFERENT NAMES USED TO GET DRUGS

"The prescriptions obtained were from several different physicians and the defendant had utilized at least two different names in obtaining them," prosecutor Ann Rundle wrote.

A single charge against Ryder for illegal possession of the painkiller Oxycodone was dropped before trial after a doctor admitted providing it for the actress without a prescription.

Rundle recommended that Ryder "should be ordered to cooperate with her probation officer in a plan for both drug and psychiatric counseling."

Ryder should also "be ordered to use only her true name, Winona Horowitz, or her stage name Winona Ryder...(and) should be prohibited from using any AKA's (aliases) for the purpose of obtaining any prescription for any controlled substance," Rundle added.

Rundle suggested at the trial that Ryder may have shoplifted for thrills but said the prosecution would not seek jail time for the actress although the charges carry a possible prison sentence of up to three years.

Witnesses at the trial said Ryder had first claimed that she thought her assistant had paid for the 20 items found stuffed in her bags and hidden under her coat. She later claimed she had been told to shoplift by a director to research for an upcoming movie role.

Court transcripts kept secret during the trial because of concerns they might prejudice a jury revealed that Ryder had twice been videotaped and once been observed at Barneys of New York and Neiman Marcus in Beverly Hills before her arrest at Saks.

Prosecutors said the videotapes showed Ryder behaving in a similar way to her video-taped shopping spree at Saks -- selecting designer clothes, concealing them under a large garment bag, going in and out of dressing rooms, and leaving without paying.

[John Galt's cousin]

If the Prosecution wanted to charge her with illegal posssession of drugs they should have presented it to a Grand Jury. It is unfair to leak this damaging and unproven allegation(in court at least) to the press. It is not relevant to the charge of which she was convicted..

I am disquieted by a report I read to the effect that NO ONE except Ryder has been charged and tried as severly as her for the same conduct.

Even though she is "famous", she should hae been treated the same as everyone else. It seems that she got 'the book thrown at her' because of who she is - rather than what she did.

If we believe that celebrities should not get special breaks, it follows that they should also not be given special punishments, IMHO.

[SupplySider]

If an inner city city kid stole $5,000. from a store, would he be sentenced to "therapy"?

[A CA Guy]

Prosecutors also want Ryder sentenced to a provision that would allow law enforcement officers to search "her person and property" at any time

As a recent law enforcement volunteer, I will comply with that search as suggested with the law...no matter the many hardships that could cause. Somebody has to do it and I would hate to see the public's money wasted on enforcing such matters.

[hattend]

Winona Ryder Gets Three Years' Probation
Fri Dec 6, 3:33 PM ET

By LINDA DEUTSCH, AP Special Correspondent

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) - Winona Ryder (news) was sentenced Friday to work with the sick, the blind and babies with AIDS (news - web sites) as part of a probationary term for stealing more than $5,500 worth of high-fashion merchandise from a Saks Fifth Avenue store.

"If you steal again you will go to jail," Superior Court Judge Elden Fox told the actress, who sat watching him solemnly and acknowledged the warning.


The judge ordered her to undergo psychological and drug counseling because "there's going to be a need for you to confront what I consider aberrant behavior."


A probation report, which the defense unsuccessfully sought to keep sealed, cited an investigation that found Ryder had received 37 medications from 20 doctors between January 1996 and December 1998.


He imposed three years of probation and said Ryder must appear in court April 7 for a status report.


Ryder also was ordered to perform 480 hours of community service — 240 hours at the City of Hope medical center, 120 hours at the Foundation for the Junior Blind, and 120 hours at the Caring for Babies With Aids foundation.


She was ordered to pay $3,700 in fines and restitution of $6,355 to Saks.


Ryder faced up to three years in prison, but prosecutors did not recommend any time behind bars because she had no prior convictions.


Her lawyer, Mark Geragos, suggested that Ryder has been punished more than the average person would be because of the public attack on her character.


"I don't think that one crime should trump all the good she's done in her life," Geragos said, citing Ryder's work with American Indian causes and with the Polly Klaas Foundation for missing children.


At one point, prosecutor Ann Rundle began an angry speech concerning numerous references to the Klaas Foundation. Mark Klaas has supported Ryder, who donated a reward after his 12-year-old daughter was kidnapped from her Petaluma home and slain in 1993.

"What's offensive to me is to trot out the body of a dead child," the prosecutor began. "I've heard this for over a year."

Geragos objected loudly and Ryder rose partly from her seat, glaring. The judge admonished Rundle to stick to the shoplifting case.

Outside court, Klaas said he was outraged by the reference to his daughter and credited Ryder with an unsolicited act of benevolence.

"Winona Ryder may be a double-felon, but she's a double-felon with a heart," he said.

The two-time Academy Award nominee was convicted last month of felony grand theft and vandalism for her infamous Dec. 12, 2001, shopping trip to the Beverly Hills store.

Ryder had numerous prescription drugs in her possession when she was arrested. One drug count was filed but it was eventually dropped when a doctor said he had prescribed it. The probation report revealed she also had a syringe in her purse.

"She had more medication in her purse than would be given to a person with a terminal disease," Rundle said.

Geragos responded that Ryder had "a pain-management problem" for some time. He angrily accused the district attorney's office of "doing everything they could to destroy this woman" and said he had tried repeatedly to settle the case without a trial.

During the trial, jurors were shown videotapes of Ryder wandering through the store's designer boutiques and taking a large number of items into dressing rooms.

Security staff testified that after Ryder was caught, she claimed a director had told her to shoplift to prepare for a movie role.

Ryder, who began her film career as a teenager in 1986, earned Academy Award nominations for "Little Women" and "The Age of Innocence." She also starred in the movie "Girl, Interrupted."