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Man Gets Four Years in Prison For Robbing Kirsten Dunst at the SoHo Grand

By DNAinfo Staff on September 7, 2010 3:32pm  | Updated on September 8, 2010 6:02am

Burglary retrial star witness Kirsten Dunst leaving the Manhattan District Attorney's office at One Hogan Place in June.
Burglary retrial star witness Kirsten Dunst leaving the Manhattan District Attorney's office at One Hogan Place in June.
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DNAinfo/John Marshall Mantel

By Shayna Jacobs

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — The man convicted of looting Kirsten Dunst's hotel room during an overnight film shoot at the SoHo Grand in 2007 was sentenced to four years in prison on Tuesday.

James Jimenez, 36, was found guilty in June after his second trial for swiping a Balenciaga handbag, $2,000 cash, a Marc Jacobs wallet, vintage sunglasses and an iPod from Dunst and her "How to Lose Friends and Alienate People" co-star Simon Pegg's penthouse suite at the hotel08.

Even after his guilty verdict, prosecutors said Jimenez continued to protest his innocence and lied on the witness stand about his involvement in the crime, claiming it was his co-defendant who was behind the theft.

Burglary retrial star witness Kirsten Dunst leaving the Manhattan District Attorney's office at One Hogan Place on Tuesday.
Burglary retrial star witness Kirsten Dunst leaving the Manhattan District Attorney's office at One Hogan Place on Tuesday.
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DNAinfo/John Marshall Mantel

"I really don't understand the charges," Jimenez said Tuesday when offered the chance to speak at his sentencing. "I don't understand why I'm being charged."

At trial Jimenez's own lawyer claimed the Brooklyn man was incompetent, even a "little mongoloid," and could not have orchestrated the heist.

The attorney, Robert Parker, also said it was Dunst who told fibs on the witness stand when she denied smoking marijuana and had it in her possession the night of the burglary.

Parker suggested the district attorney's office pursue perjury charges against the "Spider-Man" actress and would appeal his client's conviction.

He said he didn't think "there's a person on this planet" who would believe Dunst was not a marijuana user.

The lawyer had argued at trial that the theft occurred when Jimenez's co-defendant, Jarrod Beinerman, who pleaded guilty to the theft, was granted access to the room to sell drugs to the stars.

Jimenez was guilty on one count of burglary and two counts of criminal trespass after his first trial resulted in a hung jury. He faced 3.5 to seven years in prison.