Alec Baldwin’s ‘Rust’ manslaughter trial: Everything we know so far
With its jury sworn in on July 9th, Alec Baldwin’s trial for involuntary manslaughter following his accidental shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins officially begins on July 10th. The shooting occurred on October 21st, 2021, while Baldwin was handling a prop gun on the set of the movie Rust, in which he was starring and co-producing.
Given Baldwin’s A-list status as an actor, the gravity of the incident and the severity of the crime he’s being charged with, the eyes of the world will be on this trial in New Mexico. According to Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer, the trial should last between eight and ten days. It’s expected to run until July 19th.
Once the trial is completed and jurors have reached their verdict, if Baldwin is convicted, a date will be set for his sentencing. His alleged crime generally results in a minimum sentence of between ten and 16 months in prison; however, he has yet to be found guilty of any wrongdoing.
This trial in itself represents a spectacular fall from grace for one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, who has had over 40 years at the top of his profession. On the other hand, if Baldwin successfully clears his name, he can resume his film career and set about repairing the damage to his name.
Either way, millions around the world will be watching this extraordinary case unfold and querying how this unfortunate saga managed to occur on a film set.
How did Alec Baldwin end up shooting Hutchins?
In his interview with police immediately after the shooting, the footage of which has now been made public, Baldwin talks them through what happened from his point of view. At the time, he’s unaware that his shooting of Hutchins was fatal and is talking openly about what went wrong.
“There’s supposed to be nothing there,” he explains, in reference to the replica single-action .45 Colt revolver he was holding in his hand when it fired. “And so when I shoot the gun, it’s only the rehearsal, I’m assuming I have an empty gun.”
Allegedly unbeknown to Baldwin, the gun contained live rounds, real bullets, one of which hit Hutchins under her right arm and then wounded Rust director Joel Souza, who was standing behind her. In fact, there were at least six live rounds later discovered on set, including some in a box marked ‘dummy rounds’.
Additionally, a single-action revolver can only fire when the gun is cocked and the trigger is pulled. If the shooting happened in “rehearsal”, as Baldwin stated, then he cocked the gun and fired it despite those behind the camera not being positioned in a safe location, as they would have been during a proper take of the scene.
He admits, under initial questioning by police, that Hutchins was “in a position she wouldn’t ordinarily be if we were shooting [the scene].” Choosing to cock and aim the gun as he did with Hutchins only metres away is an example of the “erratic and aggressive” behaviour prosecutors will aim to prove that Baldwin displayed prior to the gun going off.
What charges does Alec Baldwin face?
Baldwin is being charged with involuntary manslaughter, a crime that involves killing another person without any form of malice or intent but in breach of the law. The charge doesn’t concern whether the killing of Halyna Hutchins was an accident, which has already been established. It posits that the actor caused Hutchins’ death through illegal malpractice despite the fact that he didn’t mean any harm towards her.
Previously, Hutchins’ family also sued Baldwin and other producers of the movie in a civil case that was set to go to trial until the defendants agreed on a settlement out of court with the family last year. At the time, all criminal charges against Baldwin had been dropped.
On January 19th this year, the criminal charge of involuntary manslaughter was brought against Baldwin for a second time. He has maintained his innocence of the crime and is set to plead not guilty.
Why was Alec Baldwin trying to dismiss the case?
The actor’s lawyers have tried to have the case thrown out by the courts on multiple grounds. Firstly, they have tried to pin the entire blame for the incident on the weapons expert employed on the film at the time.
Secondly, during their investigation into what happened, the FBI broke the prop gun which killed Hutchins, which meant that the item couldn’t be used as evidence, according to Baldwin’s team.
Even on July 9th, on the eve of the trial, defence lawyers claimed that Baldwin had been denied his legal right to access certain evidence the prosecution is planning to present at court. While this allegation didn’t constitute a request to dismiss the case entirely, it did threaten to delay the trial further. Nevertheless, proceedings will go ahead as planned after Baldwin’s team were forced to drop their claims.
What about Rust armourer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed?
The weapons expert responsible for ensuring the safety of all guns and ammunition on the set of Rust has already been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter. Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was sentenced to 18 months in prison back in April.
She’d pleaded not guilty at her trial, and her father, Thell Reed, a movie weapons consultant with clout in the industry, had initially tried to blame ammunition supplier Seth Kenney for his daughter’s role in Hutchins’ death. However, the trial’s jury concluded that the negligence of Gutierrez-Reed played a major part in the tragedy, which had nothing to do with Kennedy.
Rust’s assistant director David Halls had already accepted a plea deal in March 2023 to be convicted of unsafe handling of a firearm in relation to the shooting. Halls was responsible for managing all props on the movie set at the time. He was sentenced to six months probation.
So, could Alec Baldwin really end up in jail?
If Baldwin is convicted of involuntary manslaughter, he could spend as much as eight months in prison. This scenario is a genuine possibility. As Thomas Johnston, an actor, assistant director and producer with experience handling firearms on film sets, explained to Court TV, “The person holding the gun is the person responsible for the gun before they shoot, to be clear.”
Whether this responsibility on Baldwin’s part is mitigated by other failings on set is down to the jury to decide. Before then, a raft of evidence will be presented to them by both the prosecution and the defence.
If Baldwin is found not guilty, he’ll be free to continue filming Rust, which resumed production in 2023. He also has a new reality show about his family airing in 2025. However, both of these projects hang in the balance while his trial is ongoing.
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