Well, actually, no, a Beverly Hills judge ruled Monday, rejecting a bid by Ryder's camp to have the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office thrown off the actress' headline-making shoplifting case.
In court today, Ryder attorney Mark Geragos accused L.A. prosecutors of trying to "humiliate" his client and "stop her from having the right to a fair trial." The legal eagle asked for the California State Attorney General's office to take over the case.
But Superior Court Judge Elden Fox, who has been overseeing the always-eventful Ryder hearings, ruled that Geragos' main beef was with a spokeswoman for the D.A.'s office, and not the D.A.'s office itself.
Geragos argued that Sandi Gibbons, a media rep for the district attorney's office, wrongly blabbed to reporters about security-cam footage that supposedly shows Ryder snipping off security tags in a dressing room during her alleged $6,000 shoplifting spree at a 90210-based Saks Fifth Avenue last December 12. Geragos said no such video exists.
"I've never had a D.A.'s office act the way this D.A.'s office has," Geragos told the judge.
But Fox said Geragos kept "referring to a spokesperson." "What are you ascribing to the attorneys in the office?" he asked Geragos.
"I'm ascribing to them efforts to humiliate my client and stop her from having the right to a fair trial," Geragos said.
In the end, the judge decided that Geragos couldn't prove his they're-picking-on-her claims. The L.A. prosecutors will stay put; an August 13 pretrial hearing will remain on the calendar.
The L.A. County District Attorney's office released a statement late Monday saying, "It is ubiquitous TV commentator Mark Geragos, not Sandi Gibbons...who has a legal forum for his views. This office does its talking in court."
Missing out on today's fun was the star herself. Ryder, free on $20,000 bail, was not in court.
To be sure, Ryder and the L.A. district attorney's office have been anything but best pals since her arrest.
Prosecutors have gone after the Reality Bites star in a really big way, charging her with four felony counts: grand theft, second-degree burglary, vandalism and unlawful possession of the prescription painkiller oxycodone. The two-time Oscar nominee faces nearly four years in prison, if found guilty on all charges.
Hollywood's onetime leading gamine, now 30, pleaded innocent to the counts on June 14.
From the start, her defense has portrayed the actress as the real victim in the case, one day accusing Saks employees of actively seeking to bust a celebrity during the Christmas shopping season, the next accusing the media of bashing Ryder on the arm with one of their cameras.
Amid this turmoil, Ryder's film career is finally on the upswing. Mr. Deeds, in which she plays second fiddle to Adam Sandler, is the first box-office hit she has had a featured role in since 1994's Little Women, which wasn't even so much a hit as it wasn't a dud. She'll next be seen in the Al Pacino-toplined Simone, opening August 16--three days after her next court appearance.