The judicial nightmare continues for Alec Baldwin: the keys to the new trial

The last few weeks have been busy for Alec Baldwin. The American actor and director launched the fourth season of his podcast, Here's the thing; visited Montauk Beach, on New York's Atlantic coast; He signed autographs at a comic book convention in Atlanta and attended a classical music concert in Manhattan. The evening's program included The firebird, by Stravinsky, in addition to a series of works by the Englishman Edward Elgar known as Variations enigma. But the most intense moment occurred on January 19, when the interpreter was accused of involuntary manslaughter by a grand jury in Santa Fe (New Mexico) in a case that was considered closed: the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins by an accidental shooting of Baldwin during the filming of the western rust, in October 2021.

The first act of this trial occurred this Wednesday, when the actor pleaded not guilty to the crime. In this way, Baldwin takes the initiative in the case, which was scheduled for his appearance in court this Thursday. Baldwin could receive up to 18 months in state prison if he is convicted.

“The nightmare for Baldwin continues,” says Miguel Custodio, a lawyer specializing in accidental deaths in Los Angeles. The 65-year-old actor was accused of involuntary manslaughter in January 2023, but the charges were dropped in April of the same year thanks to the aggressive strategy of the artist's defense against the team of prosecutors that built the case. “It's one of the unfortunate things about the United States penal system,” explains Custodio. “Prosecutors can continue accusing the person almost until they die. After a certain time, the suspect should be able to live his life in peace.”

That is precisely what Baldwin had intended more than two years after the tragedy. The interpreter of the comic series 30 Rock and the movie Infiltrators He renounced his low profile after the accident in which Hutchins died, in which the filming director, Joel Souza, was also wounded by a gunshot. Baldwin then went to the media to assure that he had not pulled the trigger of the Colt revolver that he was holding during the rehearsal of a scene, but that he had only cocked the weapon. In October 2022, he signed a legal agreement with Matthew Hutchins, Halyna's widower, to compensate him and the couple's 10-year-old son with part of the income from the film, which finished filming in May in Montana. and it still does not have a release date.

Baldwin and his lawyers thought they had put the worst behind them. However, the story changed with a new analysis of the gun by Arizona forensic experts that reached Santa Fe special prosecutors Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis. The conclusion confirmed the opinion of the FBI experts: a model of revolver like the one used cannot be fired without pulling or depressing the trigger enough to release the hammer completely. Therefore, the trigger must have been released. “It will be very difficult to convince the jury that the trigger was fired on its own,” considers Custodio, who, however, points out that celebrities usually make a favorable impression on jurors. “He is famous enough to be declared innocent.”

Using the ballistics report and testimony from some witnesses, prosecutors secured a grand jury indictment in a closed-door session. The procedure was attended by a member of the production who witnessed the shooting and another who left the filming a day before due to failures in the security protocols. The prosecution believes that Baldwin could have caused Hutchins' death for two reasons: by negligent use of a firearm with a complete lack of caution “or by indifference to the safety of others.”

“We look forward to seeing you in court,” was the response from Baldwin's defense. The challenging message suggests that the actor will choose to defend himself in court and avoid an out-of-court settlement in the case presided over by Judge Glenn Ellington, who specializes in criminal cases.

“Mr. Baldwin has the right to a speedy trial to minimize public vilification and suspicion and to avoid the risk of not being able to maintain his innocence in the face of prosecution delays,” warned Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro, lawyers for the artist, in a writing addressed to the court. In the document, the lawyers reserve the right to question the prosecution's witnesses during any part of the process.

In the drama that marks his life, Baldwin also has Gloria Allred as an antagonist. The famous Los Angeles lawyer represents the parents of Ukrainian Halyna Hutchins, Olga Solovey and Anatoli Androsovych. “In the court of public opinion there is no statute of limitations,” says one of the famous phrases of the highly media lawyer, a central piece in the fall of powerful Hollywood men such as Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein. Allred assures that with this case her clients seek to get “to what really happened on October 21, 2021, when Halyna Hutchins died.”

That search for the truth will have to be diverted to another courtroom. On February 21, the trial against Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the person in charge of the armory for the production, begins. It was the first time that Gutierrez-Reed took on this responsibility on a shoot. She has pleaded not guilty to the charge of involuntary manslaughter. The woman, 25 years old, loaded the weapon that the protagonist of rust used when the incident occurred.

The trial against Gutierrez-Reed is important because it may yield useful information for the special prosecutors of the Baldwin case. Especially in what is the big question after more than two years: how did a real bullet get to the location of the Bonanza Creek ranch? The New Mexico Government fined the production $100,000 after an investigation that revealed several failures in safety protocols.

Jason Bowles, the gunsmith's lawyer, has tried to derail the process. He alleges that a prosecutorial error put communications between him and his client in the hands of a vital witness. “It is a flagrant violation of the privilege of communication between an accused and her defense,” Bowles said at a recent hearing. According to him, Seth Kenney, the supplier of the ammunition used by the production, obtained a copy of the messages exchanged between the lawyer and Gutierrez-Reed. “During the process we will argue how those bullets got to the set, and now Kenney has our entire strategy,” Bowles argued. Kenney has always blamed Gutierrez-Reed for the arrival of live bullets on the set. But the revolver was in the hands of Alec Baldwin.

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