Fame is the game as Hollywood stages the trial of Winona

There was more than one person vying for celebrity in the Beverly Hills courthouse as Winona Ryder's much-postponed shoplifting trial got under way at last yesterday.

Top billing, of course, went to the 30-year-old defendant, accused of snatching more than $5,000 in designer clothing from the Saks Fifth Avenue department store just down the road from the courthouse.

But the supporting cast wasn't half bad either. Celebrity trial-watchers and celebrity television presenters jammed Judge Elden Fox's courtroom and the corridors outside, and – for good measure – the jury featured no fewer than three entertainment industry aco-lytes, including the former head of Sony Pictures, who employed Ms Ryder three times in the early 1990s.

Quite how Peter Guber – once top honcho at Sony, now an independent producer at Mandalay Entertainment – survived the jury selection process is a mystery that stunned even him. Having shepherded Ms Ryder through roles in films such as Bram Stoker's Dracula, The Age of Innocence and Little Women, he told reporters at the courthouse last week that he had as much chance of being impanelled as, "the man in the moon".

In the end, though, neither the defence nor the prosecution raised any objection.

"Mr Guber, you're not afraid of working in this town again if you get on this case, are you?" Ms Ryder's high-flying lawyer Mark Geragos – another burgeoning celebrity in the case – asked him to laughter from the gallery. Mr Guber answered with a simple: "No."

The jury of eight women and four men also includes a legal secretary at Sony and a television programme development executive.

As the trial threatened to become an all-Hollywood affair, Judge Fox remarked sarcastically: "I think we have all the studios represented."

Yesterday's hearing was due to feature opening statements from the two sides. The prosecution alleges that Ms Ryder cut off price and security tags and stuffed numerous items into bags during a jaunt at Saks Fifth Avenue last December. The defence says there is no case, and that security video footage, supposedly catching her in the act, in fact shows no such thing.

Some of Ms Ryder's supporters have expressed amazement that the case was not settled before coming to trial, and have accused prosecutors of trying to make a name for themselves on the back of her celebrity. The truth, though, is that almost everyone stands to gain from turning California vs. Ryder into a media circus – the pundits, the television shows and, of course, the lawyers.

Even Judge Fox has shown distinct signs of enjoying himself. Last week he relished the chance to tell jurors they were not permitted to shop at Saks for the duration of the trial. "I'm sure they [Saks] won't appreciate that, but I think you can get along for five to seven days," he said, alluding to the time he believes the case will take.

Ms Ryder, who is free on $20,000 bail, faces a maximum penalty of three years in prison if convicted on all three counts of theft, second-degree burglary and vandalism.