LOS ANGELES – Prosecutors asked a judge Wednesday to dismiss a felony drug charge against Winona Ryder, who faces charges she stole nearly $6,000 worth of designer merchandise and illegally possessed a painkiller.
The district attorney's office said Ryder's defense offered a sworn statement from an individual suggesting the star of Mr. Deeds, Girl, Interrupted and other films had reason to possess the pills, which were a generic form of the prescription painkiller Percoset.
Los Angeles County District Attorney's office spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons refused to say who provided the statement, but said it made it clear that the 30-year-old actress didn't have "the requisite criminal knowledge" necessary to support the drug charge.
A source close to the case said Ryder's defense attorneys provided evidence that she received the pills from a doctor.
Ryder's attorney, Mark Geragos, did not immediately return calls for comment.
Beverly Hills Superior Court Judge Elden Fox is expected to make a ruling Tuesday, the day Ryder is scheduled to stand trial on charges of felony grand theft, commercial burglary and vandalism. The charges stem from her December 2001 arrest at a Saks Fifth Avenue store in Beverly Hills.
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