What charges does Alec Baldwin face?
The actor is about to enter a New Mexico courtroom for the first time since the Oct. 21, 2021, shooting. He was charged with felony manslaughter. If the jury unanimously finds him guilty, he could be sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Baldwin, the star and co-producer of the Western, pointed a revolver at Hutchins during rehearsals in a chapel on the Bonanza Creek Ranch film set, and a gunshot rang out, killing her, director Joel Souza Injuried. Baldwin said he pulled the hammer but did not pull the trigger and the gun fired.
Two major themes will dominate, one large and one small: the chaotic atmosphere of the movie scene, and the details of the classic Italian-made revolver that Baldwin pointed out to Hutchins.
Officials have never determined who brought the live ammunition that killed Hutchins to the set. In the previous trial of Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, prosecutors claimed she was responsible. She was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to the same 18 months in prison as Baldwin.
what jurors must decide
Prosecutors have two alternative standards to prove the charges. One is based on negligent use of a firearm. Another fact proves beyond a reasonable doubt that Baldwin acted with a complete disregard or disregard for the safety of others.
Although the case is legally and technically complex, the 12 Santa Fe County citizens who formed the jury only had to reach a verdict on one count – guilty or not guilty.
How long is Alec Baldwin’s trial expected to last?
The trial in New Mexico’s 1st Judicial District Court, about 20 miles northeast of where the movie was filmed and where the shooting occurred, is expected to last nine days, and Judge Mary Marlow Sommer insists she will keep lawyers on schedule. Jury selection will begin on Tuesday, with opening statements expected on Wednesday and expected to wrap up next Friday. However, once jurors are given the case, they can deliberate as needed.
Why is Alec Baldwin famous?
Baldwin, 66, became a major movie star in the late 1980s and early 1990s with films such as “Beetlejuice” and “The Hunt for Red October” and has been a household name ever since. He went on to have memorable supporting roles in films, including 2003’s “The Cooler,” which earned him an Oscar nomination. Comedy dominated his later career, and he won two Emmys for playing network executive Jack Donaghy in six seasons of “30 Rock” and for his role on “Saturday Night Live.” He won his third Emmy Award for playing Donald Trump.
He also assumed a huge public role as a prized talk show guest, a popular liberal and, at times, a man with uncontrollable angry outbursts that caused public embarrassment and previous conflicts. .
The eldest son of six children, five of whom were actors, from Massapequa, New York, Baldwin lived in New York City for most of his adult life. He has an adult daughter, Ireland Baldwin, with his first wife, Kim Basinger, and seven children with his second wife, Hilaria Baldwin.
Alec Baldwin’s Defense
Baldwin will bring an elite legal team composed primarily of New York lawyers, many of whom are graduates of Harvard Law School and from the firm of 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, has become one of the country’s most One of the popular attorneys who will conduct aggressive cross-examination of state witnesses.
The defense will try to argue that it’s not an actor’s job to make sure there are no real bullets in a gun, a position strongly supported by Baldwin’s union, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.
Baldwin told ABC News and suggested in interviews with authorities that he never pulled the trigger of the revolver.
His attorneys will also attack gun evidence and the severe damage done to the revolver during FBI testing, which they say amounts to a destruction of evidence that denied the defense a chance to examine it.
The prosecution’s firearms expert who testified at Gutierrez-Reed’s trial returned to the witness stand over Baldwin’s objections to testify about his handling of the revolver and whether the gun was functioning properly.
They may question witnesses about whether Hutchins received appropriate medical treatment between the shooting and when he was pronounced dead at the hospital.
prosecution team
Santa Fe County District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies appointed Kari Morrissey as special prosecutor in the Baldwin case in early 2023 after her predecessor cited conflicts of interest And resign. Morrissey immediately dismissed the indictment against Baldwin, but a grand jury reinstated it in January. Both measures would come from further review of the evidence, she said.
Morrissey is a graduate of the University of New Mexico and its law school and has practiced law in Albuquerque for more than 20 years. New Mexico criminal defense attorney Elinda Johnson joined Morrissey’s team in April.
As the heated hearings and documents have already shown, the trial can create a culture clash among teams of lawyers.
Morrissey and Spiro, in particular, often clashed — “I’m not going to sit here and be called a liar!” — she told a hearing in May — and would likely do the same, And provide some drama during the proceedings.
Prosecutors will try to convince jurors that as a producer and the most important person on the set, Baldwin brought reckless behavior to the production and that as an actor he was negligent in his use of firearms.
Who will testify in Alec Baldwin trial
Staff inside the chapel became witnesses to Hutchins’ killing and will provide some of the most important testimony in the trial. Among them were director Joel Souza, who was himself wounded by a bullet from Baldwin’s gun, and assistant director David Halls, who some say took responsibility for the shooting but did not. Disputed negligent handling of firearms.
Prosecutors said in court documents that cast member Zach Snesby, who held a boom microphone during rehearsals, will testify that he saw Baldwin pull the trigger of the revolver, making him potentially the most important witness. .
Prosecutors also may have called Gutierrez-Reed to testify, but Marlo Sommer rejected the immunity deal they wanted to give her.
Jurors will hear testimony from firearms experts who claim the revolver worked fine and could not have been fired without pulling the trigger.
Baldwin himself could appear in court in his defense, but he was not required to do so. His attorney has not yet said what he will do.
Where the ‘Rust’ shooting took place
Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico, an arts mecca of 89,000 people and a tourist destination known for its historic Southwest beauty, is not a small town. The modern legal complex in the city center is hardly a village courthouse. But the location remains a long way from the coastal city courthouse where the celebrity trials of Bill Cosby, O.J. Simpson, Harvey Weinstein and Donald Trump have been held.
Proceedings can create unusual scenes. Dozens of members of the national media will vie for seats in the Santa Fe courtroom and an overflow room, and cameras will circle the courthouse to record arrivals and departures.
Viewing is available to the public. The trial will be broadcast live by multiple media outlets including Court TV.
Who is Helena Hutchins?
Hutchins, 42 when she died, was a rising cinematographer and the mother of a young son when she was killed. She grew up on a remote Soviet military base, shot documentaries in Eastern Europe, then studied film in Los Angeles and began a promising filmmaking career.
