Winona Ryder Out On $20,000 Bail

The lawyer for Winona Ryder says he hopes her arrest for shoplifting and drug possession can be disposed of without formal charges or a trial.

Attorney Mark Geragos calls the incident "a misunderstanding."

Beverly Hills police booked the actress Wednesday night on suspicion of trying to steal 47-hundred dollars' worth of clothing and hair accessories from a Saks Fifth Avenue store. They say she also had in her possession painkillers without a prescription.

Ryder has been released on 20-thousand dollars' bail.

Geragos says Ryder can produce evidence that she has a prescription for the painkillers. He says she also has receipts for the items found in her bags.

"It will become clear that there was no theft here," he said. "Ms. Ryder had no intent of depriving anybody of any property."

The alleged shoplifting took place at the Saks store on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills in the heart of one of the world's most expensive shopping districts.

Geragos said the drugs found on Ryder were painkillers that she had been prescribed. The attorney would not say why Ryder was taking painkillers but said she was "not under the influence" at the time of her arrest.

Asked how Ryder was feeling, Geragos said: "Nobody wants to be on the nightly news with all these rampant rumors."

In 1995, the pixyish actress with dark soulful eyes was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress for her work in "Little Women." In 1994 she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for "The Age of Innocence."

Ryder's publicist said she had no comment on the arrest and Saks also declined comment.

Born in Winona, Minnesota, to hippie parents, Ryder's godfather was Timothy Leary. She spent her early years living on a commune without electricity in the company of Leary and Beat poet Allen Ginsburg, also a family friend.

She made her film debut in the David Seltzer high school coming of age flick "Lucas" in 1986 and played the teenage bride of Jerry Lee Lewis in "Great Balls of Fire" in 1989.

In 1990, she was cast as Mary Corleone in "Godfather: Part III," but dropped out two days before filming began saying she had the 'flu from the stress of making two other films and did not want to let people down by delivering a substandard performance.

Around that time she checked herself into a hospital for treatment of depression, anxiety attacks and exhaustion.

Several films later, in 1996, she began work on "Girl, Interrupted," in which she delivered a stirring performance as a young woman who had been committed to a mental institution. It took four years for the film to make it to the theaters.

Last August, Ryder again checked into a hospital after suffering from severe stomach pains in her hotel room in London where she was filming "Lily and the Secret Planting."

She was later diagnosed with a severe gastroenterological disorder and actress Kate Winslet was cast in her place. She was said to have been heartbroken to leave the film.

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