Alec Baldwin faces justice for fatal shooting on the set of ‘Rust’

A long-awaited duel will take place this week in a historic town in the American Wild West, with both sides seeking justice for a fatal bullet that came from a revolver.

But if the judgment of Alec Baldwin for involuntary manslaughter sounds like a Hollywood plot, the victims, the stakes and the tragic consequences are pure reality.

In October 2021, on the set of New Mexico where they were filming “Rust”, a low-budget western, a revolver that Alec Baldwin was aiming discharged a live bullet that killed the film’s director of photography and injured its director.

With the fame of Alec Baldwin and because on-set deaths are so rare in an industry with as many layers of control as film production in the United States, the story immediately became a global issue.

It also polarized opinions, with some seeing Baldwin, an actor who was unaware that the gun had a real bullet instead of a prop, as the victim, and others calling the death a consequence of his alleged irresponsible behavior.

Almost three years later, After several failed attempts by Baldwin’s impressive legal team to close the caseThese arguments will be weighed by a jury in a Santa Fe court during the trial that begins on Tuesday.

If convicted, Baldwin faces a maximum of 18 months in prison, a sentence currently being served by the film’s gunsmith, Hannah Gutierrez, who was convicted and sentenced by the same court earlier this year.

Basic safety rules

Halyna Hutchins’ death occurred on a sunny afternoon during a rehearsal for “Rust” at a small chapel on the Bonanza Creek Ranch, about 30 miles from Santa Fe.

Alec Baldwin was practicing a scene for his character, an outlaw who, cornered in a church by two agents, pulls out his Colt.

The actor claims he did not pull the trigger and was told the gun was “cold,” which in movie slang means out of ammunition and safe to use.

Live bullets are banned on film sets, and Alec Baldwin argues that it is not his responsibility, As an actor, check if the parameter was respected.

The trial of Gutierrez, the young gunsmith from “Rust,” revealed several of the arguments the prosecution will use against Baldwin, who was also one of the film’s producers.

At the time, Gutierrez’s lawyers said Baldwin “violated some of the most basic gun handling rules there are,” how to never point a gun at a person unless you are going to use it.

“Alec Baldwin’s conduct and his lack of gun safety in the church that day is something he will have to answer for,” said special prosecutor Kari Morrissey, in a rare moment of agreement between both sides of that trial.

“Not before you, not today. There will be another jury, another day,” Morrissey added.

Conduct on the set

That day has arrived, with jury selection on Tuesday and opening statements scheduled for Wednesday.

That the case is going to trial is already a victory of sorts for prosecutors, who have faced several attempts by Baldwin’s legal team to have the case dropped.

The 66-year-old American actor’s defense argued that the FBI damaged the weapon while conducting laboratory tests, which would prevent a fair trial.

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 Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer, who decided to continue with the trial.

Baldwin’s team also suggested that his celebrity status and reputation as a liberal encouraged prosecutors to pursue him aggressively.

Court documents allege Baldwin’s unpredictable behavior contributed to the tragedy and that he subsequently changed his story several times.

“Mr Baldwin frequently shouted and swore” for “no particular reason,” Morrissey wrote.pointing out that both he and the team were targets of this attitude.

“To watch Mr. Baldwin’s behavior on the set of ‘Rust’ is to see a man who has no control over his own emotions and no concern for how his behavior affects those around him,” he added.