The groundbreaking trial of Alec Baldwin, the Hollywood star who shot and killed a cameraman during a rehearsal on set, has begun.
The Shooting of Halyna Hutchins in October 2021 on the set of “Rust” sent “shock waves through the film industry,” said The Independent. Baldwin, 66, is charged with a crime, which could result in a prison sentence of up to 18 months. The “30 Rock” star has pleaded not guilty and is on trial in Santa Fe, New Mexico – just a “short drive from the ranch setting” of the western, which is due to hit theaters later this year.
Hutchins’ death was “Hollywood’s first fatal gun death on set in three decades” and “led to calls to end the widespread use of real firearms on film sets,” said ReutersThe case is “remarkable” because there is “little to no precedent in US history for an actor being prosecuted for a death resulting from a shooting on set.”
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What we know so far
During rehearsals for a shootout, Baldwin’s prop gun went off and a bullet hit Hutchins. The “aspiring camerawoman at the start of her career” later died of her injuries in hospital, said The guardDirector Joel Souza was also injured.
Baldwin, the film’s star and co-producer, said in an ABC News interview two months later that he did not pull the trigger, but claimed the gun went off accidentally. Prosecutors call that claim “absurd.”
Experts believe that this report “forces the actor to a much tighter defense, since he cannot claim that he does not remember what happened,” said the BBC.
An FBI report verified Baldwin’s claim and found that the gun’s trigger “had to be pulled or depressed far enough to release the fully cocked or retracted hammer.” The actor was charged with manslaughter in January last year, but the case was dismissed in April last year because prosecutors were convinced the gun had been modified. This January, a grand jury reinstated the indictment after an independent firearms expert confirmed the FBI’s original findings that the gun functioned normally.
In March, a jury from Santa Fe condemns Hannah Gutierrez-Reedthe gun supervisor who loaded the gun for Baldwin was found guilty of manslaughter. Gutierrez-Reed, who brought the live ammunition to the set, showed an “astonishing lack of care,” said prosecutor Kari Morrissey in her closing argument. “It was a game of Russian roulette every time an actor had a dummy gun.” Gutierrez-Reed was sentenced to the maximum sentence of 18 months in prison.
Last year, the film’s assistant director and security coordinator, Dave Halls, reached an agreement on suspicion of negligent use of a deadly weapon.
What we can expect from the case
The case will “examine the nexus of gun safety, high-profile celebrities and a low-budget western film,” according to The Independent. The trial will take place in New Mexico, a state with “strong currents around gun ownership and safety due to hunting in remote areas.”
Two “big themes” dominate, according to The Guardian: the “chaotic atmosphere” on the set of “Rust” and the mechanical details of the revolver that Baldwin pointed at Hutchins.
Baldwin’s team has already won “a big victory” on the first issue. During a pretrial hearing on Monday, the judge ruled that Baldwin’s role as co-producer of the film was not relevant to the case. His status as a producer was “important to the prosecution’s argument that he contributed to the work environment that led to the shooting.” The night before the shooting, six members of the camera crew had resigned for safety reasons.
The defense will argue that it is not an actor’s job to make sure there are no real bullets in a gun or to ensure the safety of firearms on set, but that this is the responsibility of the crew: Gutierrez-Reed and Halls. Baldwin’s team will also argue that the FBI’s testing of the gun in 2022 damaged it so badly that evidence was destroyed. The actor’s “best defense may be doubts his lawyers can sow about how the gun works,” according to Reuters.
Prosecutors have also portrayed Baldwin as an “unsafe gun user” and shown footage of him waving weapons around on set, according to the BBC. Zac Sneesby, a crew member, will testify that he saw Baldwin pull the trigger, according to court documents. But the prosecution’s “main theory is that there was a gun involved and Baldwin had a gun in his hand, and it doesn’t matter if it’s a film set or a hunting safety course, you’re responsible for what comes out of the barrel,” John Day, a New Mexico-based criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor, told The Independent.
The trial is scheduled to last nine days and will be streamed and broadcast by several television stations in the US. Baldwin is not scheduled to testify – but that doesn’t mean he won’t.
