Nearly three years after the director of photography Halyna Hutchins was shot dead on the set of the movie “Rust” in New Mexico, Alec Baldwin to be tried on his death. Here are the essential things to know.
What charge is Alec Baldwin accused of?
A photograph of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins is displayed at a vigil in Albuquerque in 2021. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)
The actor is set to enter a New Mexico courtroom for the first time since the October 21, 2021 shooting. He is charged with manslaughterIf a jury unanimously finds him guilty, he could face up to 18 months in prison.
Baldwin, the star and co-producer of the Western, was pointing a revolver at Hutchins during a rehearsal in a small church on the film’s Bonanza Creek Ranch set when the gun went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin said he pulled the hammer – but not the trigger – and the shot was fired.
Two major themes will predominate, one large, the other small: the chaotic atmosphere of the film’s setting and the details of the classic Italian-made revolver that Baldwin pointed at Hutchins.
It has never been officially determined who brought the live ammunition that killed Hutchins to the set. Prosecutors in the previous trial of the “Rust” gunsmith Hannah Gutierrez-Reed She was charged with manslaughter and sentenced to the same 18-month prison term as Baldwin.
What the jurors must decide
Prosecutors have two possible standards for proving the charge. One is based on the negligent use of a firearm. The other is to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Baldwin acted with reckless disregard or indifference to the safety of others.
Despite the legal and technical complexity of the case, the 12 Santa Fe County citizens who will make up the jury will have to return a single verdict – guilty or not guilty – on a single count.
Bonanza Creek Ranch in Santa Fe in October 2021. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
How long should Alec Baldwin’s trial last?
The trial, which will take place in New Mexico’s First Judicial District Court, about 20 miles northeast of where the film and shooting took place, is expected to last nine days, and Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer has said she will keep the attorneys in order and on schedule. Jury selection will begin Tuesday, with opening statements expected Wednesday and the jury set to conclude the following Friday. Once the jurors receive their case, they will be able to deliberate for as long as necessary.
Why is Alec Baldwin famous?
Baldwin, 66, became a major movie star in the late 1980s and early 1990s with films like “Beetlejuice” and “The Hunt for Red October,” and has remained a household name ever since. He went on to play memorable supporting roles in films like 2003’s “The Cooler,” which earned him an Oscar nomination. Comedy dominated his later career, as he won two Emmys for his role as Jack Donaghy, a television executive, on six seasons of “30 Rock,” and a third for his role as Donald Trump on “Saturday Night Live.”
Baldwin in 2017. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
He has also played the role of an outlier public figure, as a popular talk-show guest, as a sought-after liberal, and at times as a man unable to control his temper tantrums, which have earned him public embarrassment and previous brushes with the law far more minor than his current ones.
Baldwin is the eldest of six children, five of whom are actors, from Massapequa, New York, and has lived in New York City for most of his adult life. He has an adult daughter, Ireland Baldwin, from his marriage to his first wife, Kim Basinger, and seven young children with his second wife, Hilaria Baldwin.
Alec Baldwin’s Defense
Baldwin will be joined by an elite legal team comprised primarily of New York attorneys, many of them Harvard Law graduates, from the firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan. Alex Spiro, a 41-year-old defense attorney who has represented Elon Musk, Megan Thee Stallion and other high-profile figures and has become one of the most sought-after lawyers in the country, will aggressively cross-examine prosecution witnesses.
The defense will try to argue that it is not an actor’s job to ensure that real bullets are not in his gun, a position strongly supported by Baldwin’s union, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.
Baldwin said in an interview with ABC News, and has suggested in interviews with authorities, that he never pulled the trigger of the revolver.
His lawyers will do so too. attacking firearms evidenceand the severe damage done to the revolver during an FBI test, they said, amounted to the destruction of evidence and left the defense no chance to examine it.
White-collar defense attorney Mark Sedlander says the involuntary manslaughter charge against Alec Baldwin is unusual because workplace accidents — like the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins — are typically civil cases, not criminal cases. (July 5)
Prosecution firearms experts who testified at Gutierrez-Reed’s trial returned to the stand, over Baldwin’s objections, to testify about his handling of the revolver and whether the weapon functioned properly.
They could also press witnesses about whether Hutchins received proper medical care between the shooting and when he was pronounced dead at the hospital.
The prosecutor’s team
Santa Fe County District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies appointed Kari Morrissey as special prosecutor in the Baldwin case in early 2023 after his predecessor resigned due to conflicts of interest. Morrissey quickly had the indictment against Baldwin dismissed, but I relaunched it in January This year, the grand jury ruled on the matter. Both decisions were made after a more thorough review of the evidence, she said.
Morrissey graduated from the University of New Mexico and its law school and practiced law in Albuquerque for more than 20 years. New Mexico criminal defense attorney Erlinda Johnson joined Morrissey’s team in April.
The trial could cause a culture clash within the legal team, as already shown by heated hearings and cases.
Morrissey and Spiro in particular have often clashed — “I’m not going to sit here and be called a liar!” she said during one such moment at a hearing in May — and will likely do the same and cause some drama during the proceedings.
Prosecutors will try to convince jurors that as a producer and the most important person on set, Baldwin was reckless in the production and that as an actor, he was negligent in handling his gun.
Who Should Testify at Alec Baldwin’s Trial
The crew members who were in the small church and who witnessed Hutchins’ murder will provide the most important testimony in the trial. They include director Joel Souza, himself shot by Baldwin’s gun, and assistant director David Halls, the film’s assistant director, who some have accused of being responsible for the shooting but who has pleaded not guilty to negligent handling of a firearm.
Zac Sneesby, a crew member who held a boom microphone during the rehearsal, will testify that he saw Baldwin pull the trigger of the gun, prosecutors said in court papers, making him potentially the most important witness of all.
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed during her involuntary manslaughter trial in March 2024. (Jim Weber/Santa Fe New Mexican via AP, Pool)
Prosecutors could also call Gutierrez-Reed to the stand, but Marlowe Sommer has rejected the immunity deal they wanted to give him.
Jurors will hear testimony from firearms experts who say the gun was functioning properly and could not have fired without pulling the trigger.
Baldwin himself can speak in his defense, but he is not required to do so. His lawyers have not yet said what he will do.
Where did the “Rust” shooting take place?
Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico, an arts mecca with 89,000 residents and a tourist destination for its historic Southwestern beauty, is no small city. And its modern downtown courthouse is no rural courthouse. But it’s still a far cry from the urban coastal courts that have held the trials of celebrities such as Bill Cosby, OJ Simpson, Harvey Weinstein and Donald Trump.
The proceedings could feature an unusual scene. Dozens of members of the national media will vie for seats in the Santa Fe courtroom and a meeting room, and cameras will surround the courthouse to monitor arrivals and departures.
The public will be able to follow the trial. It will be broadcast via streaming and on several channels, including Court TV.
Who is Halyna Hutchins?
Hutchins, who was 42 at the time of her death, was a rising cinematographer and mother of a young boy when she was killed. She grew up on a remote Soviet military base and worked on documentary films in Eastern Europe before studying film in Los Angeles and launching a film career. a promising career in cinema.
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