The inner workings of a Colt.45 “Peacemaker” pistol, a symbol of the American Wild West, have been the centrepiece of Alec Baldwin’s trial for the 2021 fatal shooting of “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on a New Mexico film set.
Jury selection was scheduled to begin on Tuesday, nearly three years after Baldwin was told to point his gun at Hutchins while she lined up a camera shot inside a movie-set church about 20 miles southwest of Santa Fe.
Hutchin’s 2021 death was Hollywood’s first on-set gunshot fatality in three decades, sparking calls to end the ubiquitous usage of real firearms on film sets.
Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter trial at a new, brown-stucco courthouse in downtown Santa Fe is expected to last eight days, ending on July 19.
If convicted, the actor from “30 Rock” could face up to 18 months in prison.
In March, a jury in Santa Fe, New Mexico, found “Rust” armourer Hannah Gutierrez, the set staffer in charge of firearm safety, guilty of involuntary homicide for accidentally placing a live cartridge into Baldwin’s gun. Gutierrez received a maximum 18-month sentence.
Legal analysts and guns experts had long predicted that Baldwin’s case would revolve around whether he should have inspected the rifle after being assured it was “cold,” an industry phrase indicating that it was empty or contained inactive, simulated rounds.
However, in a critical interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos in December 2021, Baldwin denied pulling the trigger, bringing prosecutors and defence lawyers into the field of forensic firearms testing.
Baldwin, 66, claimed he cocked the reproduction 1873 Single Action Army pistol before it fired a live cartridge, killing the rising star cinematographer and injuring director Joel Souza.
Santa Fe police investigated Baldwin’s claims. An FBI inspection revealed that the gun functioned normally and would not discharge at full cock without the trigger being pressed. State prosecutors then brought charges, charging Baldwin of lying about the trigger.
Last year, Baldwin’s legal team responded with photographic evidence that the full-cock notch on the Italian-made Pietta rifle had been filed down, making it easier to fire. This allowed for a mechanical breakdown or “accidental discharge” without a trigger pull, they claimed.
Whether or not the revolver was modified, legal experts believe the prosecution will face a difficult challenge in proving Baldwin knew he could kill Hutchins but showed willful disdain for the risk, a level of criminal negligence required for an involuntary manslaughter conviction.
“The gun is probably the best defence, because there is no way to definitively say what the condition of the firearm was,” said Ashley Hlebinsky, executive director of the University of Wyoming Firearms Research Centre.
Prosecutors withdrew charges last year, certain that the pistol had been changed, only to have a grand jury revive them in January after independent firearms expert Lucien Haag verified the FBI’s findings.
The FBI destroyed the rifle during testing, and the actor’s lawyers said they had no way of proving it was modified.
“The worst evidence against Baldwin is the FBI ballistics report that says he pulled the trigger, and his ABC interview where he said he didn’t,” said Neama Rahmani, a Los Angeles trial lawyer and former federal prosecutor.
Another probable obstacle for the prosecution is convincing jurors that Baldwin is guilty of criminal negligence after Gutierrez and first assistant director Dave Halls were convicted in the incident. In a plea deal, Halls said he did not examine the bullets in Baldwin’s gun. He was convicted of a misdemeanour and sentenced to six months suspended.
“Juries have difficulty with the idea that people can share guilt,”
said Joshua Kastenburg, a law professor at the University of New Mexico and former lawyer and judge in the United States Air Force.
Jurors may not believe Baldwin’s assertion that as an actor, he was not responsible for guns safety and relied on set professionals such as Gutierrez and Halls.
Gun ownership is prevalent in the Southwest United States, where it is culturally acceptable to check a firearm rather than point it at someone and squeeze the trigger, according to Hlebinsky.
Then there’s Baldwin’s on-set conduct.
State prosecutor Morrissey will use videos and photos from the filming of “Rust” to show Baldwin was a man with “no control of his emotions,” whose “off script” firing of guns, pointing them at people, and rushing Gutierrez to reload weapons contributed to a collapse in firearms safety, according to court filings.
The court in the case concluded on Monday that Baldwin’s producer job could not be linked to Hutchins’ death, potentially undermining prosecutors’ claims that the actor was the de facto “boss” of the set and responsible for general weapon safety.
Souza and Halls, the two most prominent persons on the set, are expected to support the actor. Both have been called as witnesses by the defence and prosecution.
During Gutierrez’s trial, Souza and Halls characterised Baldwin’s on-set behaviour as typical of high-profile actors.
According to Hlebinsky, Baldwin’s best defence may be to create doubts about the pistol’s operation through his lawyers.
“I don’t think anyone can say 100% what happened,” said the firearms historian, who has served as an expert witness in court cases involving single action Colt. 45 type revolvers comparable to Baldwin.
(Soruce: Reuters)
