Alec Baldwin ‘was an actor, acting’, shooting trial hears
A DEFENCE attorney told jurors that the shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was an “unspeakable tragedy” but that “Alec Baldwin committed no crime; he was an actor, acting”.
Baldwin’s lawyer Alex Spiro emphasised in his opening statement in a Santa Fe, New Mexico, courtroom that Baldwin, who is on trial for involuntary manslaughter, did exactly what actors always do on the set of the film Rust, where Ms Hutchins was killed in October 2021.
“I don’t have to tell you any more about this, because you’ve all seen gunfights in movies,” Mr Spiro said.
Special prosecutor Erlinda Ocampo Johnson said in her opening statement that before the shooting, Baldwin skipped safety checks and recklessly handled a revolver.
“The evidence will show that someone who played make believe with a real gun and violated the cardinal rules of firearm safety is the defendant, Alexander Baldwin,” Ms Ocampo Johnson said.
Mr Spiro replied that “these cardinal rules, they’re not cardinal rules on a movie set”.
“On a movie set, safety has to occur before a gun is placed in an actor’s hand,” Mr Spiro told the jury.
The first witness to take the stand was the first law enforcement officer to arrive at Bonanza Creek Ranch after the shooting.
Video shown in the courtroom from the body camera of Nicholas Lefleur, then a Santa Fe county sheriff’s deputy, captured the frantic efforts to save Ms Hutchins, who looked unconscious as several people attended to her and gave her an oxygen mask.
In the courtroom, Baldwin looked at the screen sombrely as it played.
Later, Mr Lefleur can be seen telling Baldwin not to speak to the other potential witnesses, but Baldwin repeatedly does.
When special prosecutor Kari Morrissey asked whether the sheriff’s deputy handled the situation ideally, he responded: “Probably not. But it’s what happened.”
Mr Spiro tried to establish that neither Mr Lefleur nor the trial’s second witness, former sheriff’s lieutenant Tim Benavidez, treated the scene as a place where a major crime had occurred.
Mr Benavidez, who collected the revolver after the shooting, acknowledged that he was careful with it as much for safety reasons as anything else, but did not wear gloves or take meticulous forensic precautions as he might have done for a homicide investigation.
Ms Ocampo Johnson in her opening walked the jurors through the events leading up to Ms Hutchins’s death.
She said on that day, Baldwin declined multiple opportunities for standard safety checks with armourer Hannah Gutierrez-reed before the rehearsal in the small church about 20 miles (32 kilometres) from the courthouse where Ms Hutchins, “a vibrant 42-year-old rising star”, was killed. She said Baldwin instead “did his own thing”.
“He cocks the hammer, points it straight at Miss Hutchins, and fires that gun, sending that live bullet right into Miss Hutchins’s body,” said Ms Ocampo Johnson.
During the presentation, Baldwin trained his eyes downward on a notepad, away from the jury. He watched Mr Spiro intently during his opening.
His wife Hilaria Baldwin, younger brother Stephen Baldwin and older sister Elizabeth Keuchler – who wiped away tears at times – were among the family and friends sitting behind him.
The 16 jurors –11 women and five men – come from a region with strong currents of gun ownership and safety informed by backcountry hunting. Four of the jurors will be deemed alternates while the other 12 deliberate once they get the case.
Ms Hutchins’ death and the wounding of director Joel Souza nearly three years ago sent shock waves through the film industry and led to one felony charge against Baldwin, 66, that could result in up to 18 months in prison.
Baldwin has claimed the gun fired accidentally after he followed instructions to point it towards Ms Hutchins, who was behind the camera.