Witness: Winona Admitted Shoplifting

Winona Ryder marked her 31st birthday Tuesday in the defendant's chair as she and jurors watched security video of a Saks Fifth Avenue shopping expedition that led to theft charges.

A running commentary was supplied by Ken Evans, the security chief at the Beverly Hills store who testified Monday that the actress told him a director had instructed her to shoplift to prepare for a movie role.

Evans testified Monday that he first met Ryder after she had been detained and while Saks officials in California and New York were trying to decide whether to refer the case to police.

"She was seated and she immediately stood up and took my hand," said Evans, the asset protection manager at the Beverly Hills store. "She said, 'I'm sorry for what I did. My director directed me to shoplift for a role which I was preparing."'

Ryder is accused of stealing items totaling $5,560 including designer merchandise, including hats, handbags, tops and hair accessories last December. Ryder could face up to three years in prison if convicted of three felony counts of grand theft, second-degree burglary and vandalism.

The video showed Ryder examining a $1,595 white Gucci slip dress with a fringe hem. Evans pointed out to jurors how Ryder took the dress off its hanger and threw it over her arm.

As she moved through departments, Ryder wore a black hat with a price tag. After she entered two dressing rooms, the hat ended up in a shopping bag and other items disappeared from view.

At the end of her shopping, Ryder was seen chatting with a sales clerk and then paying more than $3,000 for a leather bomber jacket and two tops.

The video ended with Ryder leaving the store and being confronted by a security guard and two others who followed her out. They immediately took her shopping bags and led her back into the store.