SANTE FE.- The actor Alec Baldwin arrived at a tribunal of New Mexico today – July 9 – for the beginning of the judgment for involuntary manslaughter after the shooting that left one person dead on the set where they were filming the movie Rust.
The Hollywood star was pointing a revolver at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during rehearsal of a scene for the western film, when the gun discharged a bullet that killed her and wounded the director.
Baldwin, 66, said he didn’t know the gun was loaded and didn’t pull the trigger.
The prosecutor claims that he acted irresponsibly in the studio and that he repeatedly changed his version of events since the tragic incident on October 21, 2021.
Baldwin’s defense made several attempts to have the case dismissed, but failed.
The jury selection began on the morning of Tuesday, July 9.
In a sign of the challenges of such a high-profile case, only a couple of the preselected jurors raised their hands when the judge asked who hadn’t heard anything about the shooting on the set of Rust.
With Baldwin’s fame and the rarity of on-set deaths in an industry with as many layers of control as film production in the United States, the story became a global issue.
It also polarized opinions: on one side are those who see Baldwin as the victim, an actor who did not know that the gun had a real bullet instead of a prop; and on the other, those who believe that the death is a consequence of his supposedly irresponsible behavior.
“Seeing Mr. Baldwin’s behavior on the set of Rust “It’s a case of a man who has no control over his own emotions and no concern for how his behavior affects those around him,” said Kari Morrissey, the special prosecutor in the case.
If convicted, Baldwin faces up to 18 months in prison. It remains to be seen whether he will take the stand to testify in his own defense.
Opening arguments from both sides are due to be heard tomorrow. The trial is expected to last about 10 days.
Basic safety rules
Hutchins’ death occurred on a sunny afternoon during a rehearsal of Rust in a small chapel that is part of the Bonanza Creek Ranch, about 30 kilometers from Santa Fe.
Baldwin was rehearsing a scene for his character, an outlaw who, cornered in a church by two officers, pulls out his Colt.
The actor claims he was told the gun was “cold,” which in movie slang means out of ammunition and safe to use.
Live ammunition is banned on film sets and Baldwin argues that it is not his responsibility, as an actor, to check whether the parameter was respected.
The trial of Hannah Gutirrez, the young gunsmith of Rustrevealed several of the arguments that the prosecution will use against Baldwin, who was also one of the film’s producers.
At the time, Gutierrez’s attorneys said Baldwin violated some of the most basic gun-handling rules there are.
“Alec Baldwin’s conduct and his lack of gun safety in the church that day is something for which he will have to answer,” Morrissey said.
“Not before you or today. There will be another jury, another day,” he added.
Point for the defense
The day arrived. Baldwin appeared at court wearing a dark suit and striped tie, sporting horn-rimmed glasses and shaved hair.
At the preliminary hearing, his defense scored a point when Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer ruled out using Baldwin’s additional responsibilities as executive producer of Rust to incriminate him.
But the fact that the case ever went to court is something of a victory for prosecutors, who faced several attempts by Baldwin’s legal team to block the trial.
Among them, the argument that the FBI gave the weapon while conducting laboratory tests.
This is significant because the FBI concluded that the gun could not have been fired without the trigger being pulled, a position the defense says it missed the opportunity to refute because of what happened with the Colt.
But the arguments did not convince the judge, who decided to continue with the trial.
FUENTE: AFP
