Winona Ryder picked a good day to stop by the courthouse.
A day after the Girl, Interrupted star and her lead attorney were no-shows for a scheduled hearing (his bad...he was caught up in another trial), a Beverly Hills, California, judge dismissed the lone drug charge facing Ryder in her upcoming shoplifting trial.
The move came a week after prosecutors announced that, "in the interest of justice," they no longer wanted to pursue the possession rap. Cops had said they caught Ryder with the prescription painkiller oxycodone, minus the prescription part, the day of her shoplifting bust, last December 12.
Today, Ryder's camp was talking vindication. The two-time Oscar nominee has long maintained she did, too, have a right to the painkillers.
"They were prescribed for her by a doctor for a broken arm," attorney Mark Geragos told reporters today following the brief hearing, per Reuters.
In other court action today, Ryder's oft-delayed trial got a brand-new scheduled start date: October 24.
"Winona has expressed to me that she wants to go to trial," Geragos said today. "She wants to put this behind her."
Ryder also apparently wanted to slip out of court without jabbering to reporters, which she did. The actress, who turns 31 on October 29, looked right grownup-like in an understated off-white coat. Instead of a blue arm sling modeled at a previous hearing, she accessorized with a green pendant necklace.
Drug charge dropped or no, Ryder still stands accused of grand theft, burglary and vandalism, all counts stemming from an alleged four-figure shoplifting spree at the Beverly Hills-based Saks Fifth Avenue. The actress has pleaded innocent to those charges, as well. She remains free on $20,000 bail.
If convicted on the remaining charges, Ryder could face a maximum penalty of up to three years in prison.