Winona's Uplifting, Not Shoplifting

FOX ^ | 3/14/02 | Roger Friedman

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

It's been a helluva few days for actress Winona Ryder. Subjected to ridicule in every form since her arrest for allegedly shoplifting at Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills, Ryder has nevertheless comported herself like a champ. She's held her head high, made her court appearances, and did not stoop to the level of so many tabloid celebrities.

[dead]

So she's an "upbeat" thief? Very cute too, but still a thief.

[SGCOS]

To be quite honest, I really couldn't care any less.

[Bikers4Bush]

Who?

[Dimensio]

So she's an "upbeat" thief? Very cute too, but still a thief.

I think that the point is that, at least according to the author of the article, she isn't a thief -- at least not guilty of shoplifting in this case.

[SamAdams76]

I'm with you. I do not understand the fascination people have (mostly women) with Hollywood "celebrities." They are self-important, vacuous and usually have nothing intelligent to say. I'll watch a movie here and there but I don't pay much attention to who the actors and actresses are in real life and really couldn't give a hoot about what they do when they aren't making movies.

[Clara Lou]

What am I missing here? It sounds as though the video shows that she's not guilty of anything. There's more to the story?

[KayEyeDoubleDee]

So, she just forgot to pay for the stuff that she carried out of the store?

[Illbay]

I don't get your meaning. The tape seems to indicate she wasn't doing any "thieving."

FWIW, I agree this is hardly the story of the decade, but OTOH I had a brother-in-law who some years ago while shopping in a department store was accosted by a store detective who detained him until police got there.

The claim was he'd filched a pair of sunglasses--which in fact were sitting on top of his head, and were so old they were scratched and bent.

He actually ended up settling a civil suit with the store out of court to the tune of about $40,000.

Mistakes do happen.

[Dimensio]

So, she just forgot to pay for the stuff that she carried out of the store?

I don't presume to know the facts of the case, but the author claims that the videotape shows that she wasn't carrying out unpaid merchandise.

[dead]

The tape seems to indicate she wasn't doing any "thieving."

She (allegedly) left the store with stuff she didn’t pay for.

This gossip columnist doesn’t really address that allegation at all. He just points out that she's friendly.

[ArrogantBustard]

I hope you meant that the store paid your BIL the forty grand, not the other way around...

[Kevin Curry]

I don't presume to know the facts of the case, but the author claims . . .

If you don't know the facts, you shouldn't rush to judgment and proclaim or imply she's innocent, should you?

Just leave it alone. She'll have her day in court. In the grand scheme of things the fact the author thinks the video fails to prove shoplifting doesn't mean spit, dies it?

[SerpentDove]

While I claim NO knowledge of the case, the article says that the surveillance tape does not show the suspect doing anything illegal.

However, it does not say that the prosecution's case is built upon the surveillance tape. Hypothetically, she could have swiped stuff out of camera range, and been caught outside the store with stolen merchandise.

Innocent until proven guilty, to be sure, but have we so soon forgotten the liberal press who defended a president who was guilty of perjury?

[Nachum]

Wow! Look at all the free publicity her new movie is getting.

[corkoman]

If you don't know the facts, you shouldn't rush to judgment and proclaim or imply she's innocent, should you?

Classic Curryism

[Rodney King]

The tapes don't show inside dressing rooms where one could stuff things in to your own bags. The fact is that she walked out of the store with a number of items that she did not pay for. That is all that matters.

[Publius6961]

So she's an "upbeat" thief? Very cute too, but still a thief.

Help me out here.
Has she been convicted?
Or do you have a time machine?

[Truth29]

Actually, the media has been reporting, (not that they get it right), that she charged thousands of dollars on credit cards during this shoping spree. So the picture is very confusing. Did she mix paid for and un paid for items?? We don't know.

[dmz]

you wrote: If you don't know the facts, you shouldn't rush to judgment and proclaim or imply she's innocent, should you?

Amazing, the way you have written this...no one need proclaim or imply anything...she is, in fact, innocent until *proven* guilty. You, on the other hand, with nothing but media reports (a media that is thoroughly trashed and discredited here and elsewhere) seem to be the one to have rushed to judgement.