Alec Baldwin is on trial for Rust’s shooting. Here’s who’s who in the case

July 7, 2024

A dozen people were in a church on a film set when Alec Baldwin shot camerawoman Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza during a rehearsal for the western filmrust.

Now, nearly three years later and after countless hearings and much legal wrangling, Baldwin is on trial for manslaughter. Some of those who were at the church on that fateful day in 2021 are expected to testify.

The witness list also includes numerous investigators, weapons experts and presumably the gunsmith from the film, who has appealed against a conviction for her role in the shooting.

Baldwin, the film’s lead actor and co-producer, claims the gun accidentally fired after he followed instructions to point it at Hutchins, who was behind the camera. Not knowing the gun was loaded with live ammunition, he said he pulled back the hammer – not the trigger – and a shot went off.

Prosecutors want to present evidence that the gun’s trigger had to be pulled. They have stated that Baldwin bears some responsibility for the events of that day.

Here’s a look at the main players in the criminal trial of an actor who has been a fixture on television and in the movies for decades:

THE DEFENDER

ALEC BALDWIN — Baldwin is known for his roles in the early blockbusters The Hunt for Red October, Martin Scorsese’s The Departed and the sitcom 30 Rock. His career spans more than four decades and includes other gun-related roles. Baldwin has been charged twice in Hutchins’ death. Prosecutors dismissed an earlier charge, but then revived it by a grand jury after obtaining new analysis of the revolver he used to target Hutchins. An indictment alleges that Baldwin caused Hutchins’ death – either through negligence or “total disregard or indifference” to safety. He has pleaded not guilty.

WITNESSES

HANNAH GUTIERREZ-REED — Gutierrez-Reed, the stepdaughter of famed sniper and firearms consultant Thell Reed, was 24 at the time of the fatal test. “Rust” was her second outing as a gunsmith in a feature film. Her lawyers argued she was made a scapegoat, citing safety concerns that went beyond her client’s scope. She was sentenced to 18 months in prison for manslaughter, which she is appealing. At the sentencing, Gutierrez-Reed said she tried to do her best on set despite not having “the time, resources and personnel necessary.”

DAVID HALLS — Halls has worked on dozens of films in his 30-year career, including “The Matrix Reloaded.” The assistant director and security coordinator pleaded guilty and received a six-month suspended sentence. After producers of “Rust” stopped work on the film in 2021, it was revealed that Halls had been fired from a previous job after a gun went off on set, injuring a crew member.

JOEL SOUZA — Souza, a director and writer, wrote the screenplay for “Rust.” Although he had worked on smaller projects over the years, he made his feature film debut with 2019’s “Crown Vic.” Baldwin was a producer on that project as well and had said he was excited to work with Souza on the Western. Souza was wounded by the same bullet that killed Hutchins. Souza previously testified that he went behind Hutchins to get a closer look at the camera angle and never saw the gun used to shoot him.

ROSS ADDIEGO — He was hired by Rust Productions as a crew member who built and operated systems to control the film’s camera. He was among those at the church the day Hutchins was killed. He and other crew members are suing the producers, claiming their failure to follow industry safety protocols caused emotional distress.

ZAC SNEESBY — As a sound engineer and boom operator, Sneesby has worked on numerous projects, his most recent work including “Stranger Things.” He also mixed sound for the Santa Fe-based arts collaborative Meow Wolf. In a recent pre-trial interview, he said he was standing very close to Baldwin when the actor shot Hutchins. He told prosecutors he saw Baldwin pull the trigger.

LUCIEN HAGUE — Haag is a firearms expert with an Arizona-based consulting firm and has been called as a witness in numerous criminal cases on topics such as firearm identification and shooting reconstruction. Prosecutors have identified Haag and his son, Michael, as two of the country’s leading experts in firearms forensics. The two examined the gun Baldwin used during the trial.

PROSECUTORS

KARI MORRISSEY — Morrissey, a seasoned attorney with experience in hundreds of trials, took over as special prosecutor in March 2023. She has practiced in New Mexico for more than 20 years and earned her law degree from the University of New Mexico. Baldwin’s legal team accused her of overzealousness, but Morrissey held her own during the numerous hearings leading up to the trial. Over the course of her career, she has focused on criminal defense and civil rights cases.

ERLINDA JOHNSON — Johnson, who joined the team less than three months ago, had to be a quick learner. Her specialty is criminal defense and personal injury. She was hired in a high-profile public corruption case to defend former New Mexico Secretary of State Dianna Duran, who resigned in 2015 after it was revealed that she had used campaign funds to finance her gambling addiction. Johnson also previously worked as a federal prosecutor in drug enforcement and organized crime investigations after serving as an assistant district attorney in the Albuquerque area.

BALDWIN’S LAWYERS

LUKE NIKAS — Nikas is a graduate of Harvard Law School and a partner in the New York office of one of the world’s largest law firms. His resume includes numerous top rankings on law school MVP lists. When the charges against Baldwin were first brought, Nikas called them a miscarriage of justice and vowed his team would fight the charges and win. He is best known for his work in the art world, where he has represented museums, galleries, auction houses and collectors. He has also secured artwork by Andy Warhol and Pablo Picasso and led the defense in a forgery case that rocked the New York art world.

ALEX SPIRO — Spiro is a Harvard graduate and partner with Nikas at Quinn, Emanual, Urquhart & Sullivan. He works on white collar criminal and criminal prosecution cases, as well as sports and entertainment litigation. He was previously a Manhattan prosecutor and helped convict two notorious hitmen. His clients during his time as an attorney included Elon Musk, Jay-Z and Robert Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots.

THE JUDGE

MARY MARLOWE SUMMER — In her decades-long career, she worked as a law clerk, criminal defense attorney and hearing officer, handling thousands of domestic violence and family affairs cases. In 2010, Marlowe Sommer was appointed to the First Judicial District Court by then-New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. At Gutierrez-Reed’s sentencing in April, the judge told the defendant that anything less than the maximum sentence would be inappropriate, calling it recklessness. If Gutierrez-Reed’s trial is any indication, Marlowe Sommer will keep the attorneys on track and on schedule in what will be a high-profile trial.