Alec Baldwin: Jury selection begins for Rust shooting trial

Actor Alec Baldwin arrived at a New Mexico courthouse on Tuesday for the start of his trial in a fatal shooting on the set of the Western movie “Lust.”

Baldwin, 66, is charged with manslaughter, a charge he denies. The trial will determine whether he will be held criminally responsible for the death of cinematographer Halina Hutchins in October 2021.

The 42-year-old was killed when a gun Baldwin was using while rehearsing a scene went off, hitting the cinematographer and wounding director Joel Souza.

Jury selection is scheduled to begin Tuesday morning, with opening statements set to begin Wednesday.

Baldwin, known for playing Jack Donaghy on the NBC sitcom “30 Rock” and Donald Trump on the sketch show “Saturday Night Live,” was in court accompanied by his family, including his wife, Hilaria. He has pleaded not guilty to the felony charges.

He claims he did not pull the trigger, but that the gun fired when he cocked the revolver, and his defense argues it was the responsibility of other crew members to keep the gun safe.

But prosecutors called the allegations “absurd” and argued the actor failed to share this information during his initial questioning after the shooting, and was responsible for observing basic gun safety.

In October 2021, Baldwin was rehearsing on the set of “Lust” near Santa Fe, New Mexico, when the director asked him to point the gun at the camera in the next scene, and Baldwin was practicing drawing his gun from his side.

Baldwin, whose acting career has spanned four decades, starred in and co-produced the film, in which he plays an outlaw convicted of the manslaughter of his 13-year-old grandson.

During a rehearsal, Hutchins pointed a gun at the actor, firing a shot that struck him in the chest and also struck director Joel Souza in the shoulder.

Hutchins was taken by helicopter to a hospital where he later died from his injuries, while Souza was taken by ambulance from the scene at Bonanza Creek Ranch.

According to court documents, Baldwin and others at the scene did not know the gun was loaded or contained live ammunition.

It was later discovered that the film’s weapons specialist, Hannah Gutierrez Reed, had brought boxes of live ammunition to the set from her California home, and prosecutors said the ammunition was slowly spread across the set over a 12-day period.

Gutierrez Reed, who loaded Baldwin’s gun before the shooting, was charged with manslaughter in Hutchins’ death and convicted. She received the maximum sentence of 18 months in prison.

Judge Mary Somers, who presided over the case, said Gutierrez Reed’s mistakes “turned a safe weapon into a deadly weapon” and took Hutchins’ life.

Deputy warden and safety coordinator David Halls also pleaded guilty to unsafe handling of a firearm.

One of the key questions in the case is whether Baldwin pulled the trigger or if the gun malfunctioned.

Weeks after the fatal shooting, Baldwin said in a high-profile interview with ABC News that he did not pull the trigger.

Legal experts say this significantly limits the actor’s room for defence, as he cannot claim he doesn’t remember what happened or that it was an accident.

Prosecutors also cited an FBI report examining Baldwin’s claims, which concluded that the gun’s “trigger had to be pulled or depressed sufficiently to release a fully cocked or cocked hammer.”

While analyzing the weapon in 2022, an FBI inspector struck it with a mallet, destroying its internal components.

Baldwin’s lawyers called this “outrageous” and argued that the destroyed weapon denied the defense ample opportunity to examine the gun in its original condition.

But the judge rejected a last-minute effort to dismiss the manslaughter charge.

California trial attorney Tre Lovell said prosecutors will argue that Baldwin’s presence on a movie set does not exempt him from basic gun-handling and safety requirements.

They would argue that anyone with a gun, whether on a movie set or in real life, has a duty to make sure they don’t point it at anyone and that it isn’t loaded with live ammunition.

During pre-trial hearings, the prosecution tried to argue that as a producer, Baldwin had greater safety responsibility on set, but Judge Sommer sided with the defence, saying this was irrelevant to the case.

That means Baldwin’s role as producer – a credit given for financing, creative input or actual production work – won’t be included in the lawsuit.

But the defense’s team still has a lot to do to prevail, Lovell said, because they need to help jurors understand a movie set, a space where people have roles and obligations.

“We need to show the jury that if we start placing the onus on actors to ensure the safety of their props, it will cause chaos on the set,” he said.

“He is [Baldwin] They could even tell the difference between a fake bullet and a real one.”

Baldwin’s lawyers are also likely to argue that the actor could have relied on the film’s equipment and safety coordinators, Gutierrez Reed and Halls, to make him feel safe in his duties.

Baldwin is not currently scheduled to testify at trial, but that doesn’t mean he won’t testify.

Most legal experts agree that there is little reason to call a defendant to testify in any trial, because it gives prosecutors an opportunity for cross-examination.

Baldwin’s legal team could wait until the end of the trial to make a ruling depending on how the case progresses.

The trial is expected to last 10 days.

Gutierrez Reed did not testify at his trial.

Baldwin faces up to 18 months in prison for the charges related to Hutchins’ death.

Gutierrez Reed, who faced the same charges in the fatal shooting, received the maximum sentence.

But even if a jury acquits Baldwin, his legal troubles won’t end.

He faces several civil lawsuits, including one brought by Hutchins’ family.

In their negligence lawsuit, they allege that there were guns and live ammunition on the film set and that the death of the cinematographer and other injuries or death were a “probable consequence” because an actor “inexplicably” pointed a gun at Hutchins and fired.

Baldwin said in recent court documents that he has struggled to find acting work since the incident.

In May, the actor and his wife, Hilaria, announced they would star in a reality TV show next year with their seven children.