Reality Bites

Winona Ryder was sentenced to probation and community service Friday for shoplifting from Saks Fifth Avenue by a judge who warned her, "If you steal again, you will go to jail."

Suprior Court Judge Elden Fox ordered the star of "Girl, Interrupted" and "Reality Bites" to pay $10,000 in fines and restitution and perform 480 hours of community service.

Ryder, 31, made no statement to the court other than to acknowledge the judge's warning. She was also ordered to participate in a court-approved drug and psychological counseling program.

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

"It is not my intention to make an example of you," Fox told Ryder. But he said she had disappointed many people and she would have to "confront certain issues" that led to her behavior.

"You have refused to accept personal responsibility," he told the actress.

"If you steal again, you will go to jail. Understand that?" he told her.

"Yes, Your Honor, I do," she replied.

As CBS News' Donna Tetreault reports, Winona remained relatively emotionless during the sentencing until fireworks began between the lawyers in the courtroom. Her defense 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 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 taking more than $5,500 worth of merchandise at the Beverly Hills store a year ago.

Deputy District Attorney Ann Rundle said at the time of the conviction that she would not seek a prison sentence. She did, however, call for a fine of more than $20,000.

Ryder's infamous shopping trip on Dec. 12, 2001, garnered international headlines and became the buzz of late-night talk shows. During her trial, jurors were shown videotapes of Ryder wandering through the store's designer boutiques and taking a large number of items into dressing rooms.

The tapes did not show Ryder cutting off sensor tags with scissors, but a security guard testified she looked through door slats and witnessed the vandalism.

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

The defense said that after Ryder's first purchase, the actress believed the store would keep her account "open" and charge her later. But there was no evidence of an account.

Earlier this week, prosecutors revealed that Ryder had prescribed narcotics in her possession when she was arrested.

According to a memo by Rundle, police were able to confirm that Ryder had prescriptions for seven of the drugs. A drug charge against Ryder was dismissed when a doctor subsequently confirmed that he prescribed the eighth drug, Endocet.

Other narcotics in her possession, according to the memo, were liquid Demerol, liquid Diazepam, Vicoprofen, Vicoden, Percodan, Valium and morphine sulfate.

Transcripts made public after the trial disclosed that Ryder was suspected of shoplifting from two other high-end department stores in the past, but no charges were filed. Prosecutors were not allowed to present those allegations during the trial.

Ryder's first film role was in the off-beat 1986 teen movie "Lucas." She has starred in more than twenty movies since then, frequently taking roles in slightly quirky pictures like "Beetlejuice," "Bram Stoker's Dracula," and "Edward Scissorhands" as well as angst-ridden offerings like "Reality Bites."

She earned Academy Award nominations for "Little Women" and "The Age of Innocence."

Ryder was named after the Minnesota town where she was born in 1971. Psychadelic guru Timothy Leary was her godfather.