Alec Baldwin kills crew member on set with "prop gun"

[Rex G]

Well, the verdict has been returned. Guilty of Involuntary Manslaughter. Not Guilty, for the other charge, which was something like obstruction. The jury deliberated for just over two hours.

I have not yet watched the prosecution’s closing arguments, so cannot comment on that part. (I may or may not bother.)

I do not really disagree with the verdict. It is sad that the Assistant Director was allowed to plead, without serving any time. I see him as no less guilty. But, alas, that is how the game works.

[ccmdfd]

Well, to get back to the original topic, the closing arguments presented by the defense:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaUh8HZExhs

One interestingly compelling argument, by the defense, was that Alec Baldwin WENT OFF-SCRIPT, when he pointed the gun at the camera, and therefore at Ms. Hutchins and the director. Notably, Alec Baldwin had done a similar thing, going off-script to fire a blank round AT THE CAMERA CREW, after the director (or another crew member*) had yelled “cut,” during filming. A member of the crew had then called Alec Baldwin an expletive, after that shot, before the camera had stopped rolling. This film clip had been shown to the jury, as evidence. Yes, Alec Baldwin had fired a blank round, AT THE CAMERA CREW, on another occasion during the filming, after someone had yelled “CUT.”

I have not seen nearly all of the witness testimony, so, cannot be sure, but, it looks like the investigation was quite the clown show. Much evidence is, quite simply, missing.

I am not taking H.G.-R’s side, yet, but the prosecution is most certainly not assured of a win, in my opinion. As I see it, the Assistant Director, who already plead-out to a misdemeanor, seems “more guilty” than Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, or, at least, equally guilty. (I watched his testimony, which is in another you tube episode.) Notably, this Assistant Director, under oath, admitted that he was as responsible as H.G.-R. in making certain that the cartridges were dummy cartridges, and, admitted that he had failed to check each cartridge. Another female crew member, who was given immunity, before testifying, appears to be the one who made valuable evidence disappear.

As for the potential sources of the live ammo, one was PDQ. The owner of PDQ testified that he had provided no live ammo to the Rust set, but that he had provided live ammo to the 1883 set. The scene images, captured during the search warrant service at PDQ clearly showed a disorganized mess. PDQ also appeared to work without paper invoices, to back-up anything. The other source of dummy cartridges, who had provided .45 Colt dummies to the Rust set, was never interviewed by investigators, nor was his facility searched!

This are just a few highlights, that came immediately to mind.

Next, when I find time, I will watch the prosecution’s closing arguments.

*One of the safety rules, in the movie industry, is that anyone is able to yell “cut,” if an unsafe situation is occurring.

It wasn't just PDQ that was such a mess. By multiple testimony the on set storage and organization of firearms and dummy rounds/blanks was an absolute disaster. Stuff was all over the place not in boxes loose, unorganized and unsupervised left alone for long periods of time.

The prosecution basically just relied on: it was her job to make sure stuff was safe ultimately. There may be other Bad actors but that doesn't relieve her responsibility

[Rex G]

It wasn't just PDQ that was such a mess. By multiple testimony the on set storage and organization of firearms and dummy rounds/blanks was an absolute disaster. Stuff was all over the place not in boxes loose, unorganized and unsupervised left alone for long periods of time.

The prosecution basically just relied on: it was her job to make sure stuff was safe ultimately. There may be other Bad actors but that doesn't relieve her responsibility

True. I do not disagree with the verdict. Being sloppy and/or careless is not OK just because one is surrounded by others who are sloppy or careless.

And, a case is not lost, just because the investigation is sloppy.

[Stephanie B]

How can you tell whether the shot to either the shoulder or spine was intentional? Would you take the shooter's word as to their intent?

I ask this because a district (county) attorney once reached out to me for a report to help determine charging for a guy who had fired a round which struck near the victim. The guy was between 35 to 40 yards from the victim at the time he shot. He claimed he was trying to scare the victim, a former girlfriend. My position was that the muzzle movement required to miss 'that much' at 35 yards was so minute that it was just as likely a marksmanship error.

I recall a military case from the Norfolk Navy Base in the '70s. The shooter was a husband, the intended victim was a boyfriend of the wife. The shooter entered the EM club, saw the intended victim and began shooting at him with a .25 automatic at a distance of about fifty feet or more.

The defense argued that he shooter didn't really want to kill him, pointing out the unlikelihood of hitting anything smaller than the side of a barn at that distance with a .25. The prosecution had witnesses who testified that the shooter, before commencing to shoot, yelled "die, fucker, die", which established intent.

A conviction was had for attempted murder.

[HCM]

https://www.ksat.com/news/national/2...-alec-baldwin/


Rust' armorer convicted of involuntary manslaughter in fatal shooting by Alec Baldwin on movie set

SANTA FE, N.M. – A jury convicted a movie weapons supervisor of involuntary manslaughter Wednesday in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer by actor Alec Baldwin during a rehearsal on the set of the Western movie “Rust.”
The verdict against movie armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed assigned new blame in the October 2021 shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins after an assistant director last year pleaded no contest to negligent handling of a firearm.

Gutierrez-Reed also had faced a second charge of tampering with evidence, stemming from accusations that she handed a small bag of possible narcotics to another crew member after the shooting to avoid detection. She was found not guilty on that count.
Immediately after the verdict was read in court, the judge ordered the 26-year-old armorer placed into the custody of deputies. Lead attorney Jason Bowles said afterward that Gutierrez-Reed will appeal the conviction, which carries a penalty of up to 18 months in prison and a $5,000 fine.
Santa Fe-based state district court Judge Mary Marlowe Somer did not immediately set a sentencing date.

Baldwin, the lead actor and a co-producer on “Rust,” was indicted by a grand jury in January on a charge of involuntary manslaughter. He was pointing a gun at Hutchins on a movie set outside Santa Fe, New Mexico, when the gun went off, killing the cinematographer and wounding director Joel Souza.
The trial was a preamble to Baldwin's trial scheduled in July. He has pleaded not guilty.
Messages seeking comment about Wednesday's verdict from Baldwin’s spokeswoman and a lawyer were not immediately returned.
Prosecutors said at trial that Gutierrez-Reed unknowingly brought live ammunition onto the movie set, and it remained there for at least 12 days before the fatal shooting, giving the armorer plenty of time to remove it.

In closing arguments, prosecutor Kari Morrissey described “constant, never-ending safety failures” on the set of “Rust” and Gutierrez-Reed's “astonishing lack of diligence” with gun safety.

“We end exactly where we began — in the pursuit of justice for Halyna Hutchins,” Morrissey told jurors. “Hannah Gutierrez failed to maintain firearms safety, making a fatal accident willful and foreseeable.”

Prosecutors also contended that the armorer repeatedly skipped or skimped on standard gun-safety protocols that might have detected the live rounds. “This was a game of Russian roulette every time an actor had a gun with dummies,” Morrissey said.

Defense attorneys told jurors that the problems on the set extended far beyond Gutierrez-Reed’s control, including the mishandling of weapons by Baldwin, citing sanctions and findings by state workplace safety investigators.
The defense also cast doubt on accusations that Gutierrez-Reed brought live rounds to the set and said an Albuquerque-based ammunition supplier was never fully investigated.
Juror Alberto Sanchez said Gutierrez-Reed could have paused work on the set to address safety issues. Jurors concluded she brought live ammunition on set, whether she knew it or not, Sanchez said outside of court after jurors were dismissed.

“Pretty much it was just that (she) never did the safety checks,” said Sanchez, whose work nearby in Los Alamos involves safety decisions. “Never checked the rounds, to pull them out to shake them. I mean, if she’d have done that this wouldn’t have happened.”

Bowles, the defense attorney, had told jurors that no one in the cast and crew thought there were live rounds on set and Gutierrez-Reed could not have foreseen that Baldwin would “go off-script” when he pointed the revolver at Hutchins.
Investigators found no video recordings of the shooting.

“It was not in the script for Mr. Baldwin to point the weapon,” Bowles said. “She didn’t know that Mr. Baldwin was going to do what he did.”

To drive the point home, Bowles played a video outtake in which Baldwin fired a revolver loaded with blanks — including a shot after a director calls “cut.”

On the day of the shooting, Bowles said, Gutierrez-Reed alone was segregated in a police car away from others, becoming a convenient scapegoat.

“You had a production company on a shoestring budget, an A-list actor that was really running the show,” Bowles said. “At the end, they had somebody they could all blame.”

Dozens of witnesses had testified during the 10-day trial, from FBI experts in firearms and crime-scene forensics to a camera dolly operator who described the fatal gunshot and watching Hutchins go flush and lose feeling in her legs before death.

The prosecution painstakingly assembled photographic evidence it said traced the arrival and spread of live rounds on set, and argued that Gutierrez-Reed repeatedly missed opportunities to ensure safety and treated basic gun protocols as optional.

The defense had cast doubt on the relevance of photographs of ammunition, noting FBI testimony that live rounds can't be fully distinguished from dummy ones on sight.

Prosecutors said six live rounds found on set bear mostly identical characteristics and don’t match live rounds seized from the movie’s supplier in Albuquerque. Defense attorneys said the cluttered supply office was not searched until a month after the shooting, undermining the significance of physical evidence.

[JohnO]

Expert witness in "Rust" shooting trial points firearm towards judge before being corrected by bailiff.

https://www.reddit.com/r/gifs/commen...rm=4&rdt=59719

[Rex G]

https://www.reddit.com/r/gifs/commen...rm=4&rdt=59719

Yep. There is a longer version on the yute-tube.

[ccmdfd]

Wonder if she was offered a plea and turned it down.

The AD involved plead to a lesser charge and got 6 mo unsupervised probation, which he's already completed.

[Jim Watson]

Well, the old story was, first one to turn state's evidence gets the Deal, the rest get the trial.

[John Hearne]

Well, the old story was, first one to turn state's evidence gets the Deal, the rest get the trial.

Let's make that rhyme - The first to squeal gets the deal. The foundation of Federal jurisprudence.