Despite his attempts to have the charges once morest him dropped, American actor Alec Baldwin will have to appear at the trial that begins this week before a court in Santa Fe (New Mexico, USA), accused of involuntary manslaughter for the death of director of photography Halyna Hutchins on the set of ‘Rust’.
On October 21, 2021, a live bullet came out of the Colt .45 revolver, supposedly a ‘prop’, that Alec Baldwin was holding during one of the rehearsals for the film that he starred in and produced.
The bullet fatally struck Hutchins, 42, and wounded director Joel Souza in the shoulder.
Following the tragedy, Baldwin and the production’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, were charged with involuntary manslaughter and both pleaded not guilty.
Specifically, Baldwin is charged with two separate counts of involuntary manslaughter: one felony count accusing him of “complete disregard or indifference to the safety of others”; and another relating to his “negligent use of a firearm.” However, the actor can only be convicted of one.
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Last March, Gutierrez-Reed was found guilty by prosecutors and sentenced to the maximum penalty, 18 months in prison, following the prosecution argued that she repeatedly violated security protocol.
A year earlier, Dave Halls, assistant director on “Rust,” took a plea deal on a charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon that resulted in six months of probation and a $500 fine.
Baldwin has maintained in interviews that he did not pull the trigger on the gun and that it went off on its own following he cocked it, but a forensic report commissioned by prosecutors led by Kari Morrissey determined that the 66-year-old actor must have pulled the trigger to cause the gun to discharge.
Baldwin will now have to face justice. His trial is expected to begin on July 9 with jury selection and is expected to continue until July 19.
If convicted, the ’30 Rock’ actor might also face 18 months in prison and a fine of thousands of dollars.
Dilation of the case
The Rust case has dragged on because there have been several twists and turns in the charges once morest Gutierrez-Reed and Baldwin.
Both were initially charged under a law that went into effect following the shooting, so prosecutors admitted their mistake and reduced the possible sentence from up to six and a half years in prison to a maximum of 18 months.
Furthermore, the sole charge once morest Baldwin was dismissed by the prosecutors in charge of the case in April 2023, because new facts had been revealed that required further analysis and forensic investigation, but in January of this year, the situation became complicated once more for the interpreter when he was charged once more with a charge of involuntary manslaughter.
Since then, Baldwin’s legal team has tried repeatedly, but failed, to have the charge once morest him dismissed and thus halt the trial, arguing that the prosecution had destroyed evidence that might be critical to the defense and that this was preventing Baldwin from receiving a fair trial.
FBI evidence
The replica revolver used in the shooting was discarded during FBI tests at the prosecutor’s request to determine whether the gun might have fired on its own as Baldwin claimed, but authorities said the weapon functioned normally and would not have gone off without the trigger being pulled except in a very specific set of circumstances.
New Mexico state Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer denied Baldwin’s defense’s latest motion on June 29, arguing that the unaltered firearm “had no apparent exculpatory value” before it was damaged in forensic testing months following the fatal shooting.
Amid all the controversy, Baldwin recently announced that in 2025 he will premiere ‘The Baldwins’, a reality show that will follow the daily life of his family, made up of his wife and seven children.
Los Angeles / EFE
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2024-07-08 20:36:14