Actor charged with involuntary manslaughter over 2021 death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on film set of Rust
Actor Alec Baldwin listens during his hearing in Santa Fe County district court, New Mexico. Photograph: Ross D. Franklin/Getty ImagesAlmost three years after the fatal shooting on the movie set of Rust, prosecutors began to lay out their case againstin a packed Santa Fe courtroom, painting a picture of an unsafe workplace on a tight budget with a lead actor who violated the “cardinal rules of firearm safety”.
The actor and co-producer on the western was rehearsing when he pointed a prop firearm at Ms Hutchins and the weapon fired a single bullet, killing Ms Hutchins and injuring the director, Joel Souza.The evidence will show the gun was functional, prosecutor Erlinda Johnson said, despite Mr Baldwin’s statements that it had malfunctioned.
The defence argued in opening statements that Mr Baldwin was focused on playing a character and was not responsible for checking the gun. Others on set were tasked with ensuring the weapon’s safety, defence attorney Alex Spiro said, namely the film’s armourer and first assistant director.“The evidence will show that on a movie set, safety has to occur before the gun is placed in an actor’s hands,” Mr Spiro said.
Mr Baldwin’s legal team had repeatedly attempted to get the charge against him dropped, and last month sought dismissal on grounds that prosecutors had allowed potentially “exculpatory evidence” to be destroyed in the FBI testing of the firearm before the defence could examine it. Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer denied those requests.
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