Alec Baldwin: Jury selection begins in Rust trial

Actor Alec Baldwin arrived at a New Mexico courthouse Tuesday for the start of his trial for a fatal shooting on the set of the western film Rust.

Mr Baldwin, 66, faces charges of involuntary manslaughter, which he denies. The trial will determine whether he should be held criminally responsible for the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in October 2021.

The 42-year-old was killed by the gunshot fired by Mr Baldwin during a rehearsal for a scene. A bullet fired from the gun fatally struck the director of photography and wounded director Joel Souza.

Jury selection began Tuesday morning and opening statements are expected to begin Wednesday.

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

He maintains he did not pull the trigger and that the gun went off when he cocked the hammer. His defense team argues it was the responsibility of other crew members to ensure the gun was safe.

But prosecutors called that claim “absurd,” saying the actor did not share that information during his first interview after the shooting and asserting that he had a responsibility to follow basic gun safety rules.

In October 2021, Mr. Baldwin was rehearsing on the Rust set near Santa Fe, New Mexico. He practiced drawing his gun across his body as the director asked him to point it at the camera in an upcoming scene.

Mr. Baldwin, who has a 40-year acting career, starred in the film, which he also co-produced, as an outlaw whose 13-year-old grandson is convicted of manslaughter.

As he aimed his revolver during the rehearsal, the gun went off. A bullet fired from the gun hit Ms. Hutchins in the chest, and also struck director Joel Souza in the shoulder.

Ms. Hutchins was airlifted to hospital but died of her injuries. Mr. Souza was flown by ambulance from the scene of the crash at Bonanza Creek Ranch.

Court documents show that Mr. Baldwin and others on set did not know the gun was loaded or contained live ammunition.

It was later discovered that the film’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, had brought a box of live ammunition to the set from her home in California. Prosecutors said the live ammunition slowly spread across the set over the course of 12 days.

Gutierrez-Reed, who had loaded Mr. Baldwin’s gun before the shooting, was charged and convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Ms. Hutchins’ death. She was sentenced to 18 months in prison, the maximum sentence.

Judge Mary Sommers, who oversaw the case, said Gutierrez-Reed’s mistake cost Ms. Hutchins her life by turning “a safe weapon into a deadly weapon.”

David Halls, assistant director and security coordinator, also pleaded guilty to dangerous handling of a firearm.

One of the key questions in this case is: Did Mr. Baldwin pull the trigger or did the gun malfunction?

Several weeks after the fatal shooting, Mr. Baldwin told ABC News in a highly publicized interview that he did not pull the trigger.

According to legal experts, this has forced the actor to adopt a much narrower defense, as he cannot claim that he did not remember what happened or that it happened by accident.

They also cited an FBI report that verified Mr. Baldwin’s claims. It concluded that the “trigger of the pistol must be pulled or depressed sufficiently to release the fully cocked or retracted hammer.”

While analyzing the weapon in 2022, an FBI examiner struck the weapon with a mallet, shattering its internal components.

Mr. Baldwin’s lawyers called the situation “outrageous” and argued that the destroyed weapon deprived the defense of a full opportunity to examine the gun in its original condition.

But a judge rejected a final attempt to dismiss the manslaughter charge.

Tre Lovell, a California trial lawyer, says prosecutors will argue that even if Mr. Baldwin was on a movie set, that doesn’t absolve him of basic firearms skills and safety duties.

They will argue that anyone who holds a gun, whether on a film set or in real life, has an obligation to never point it at anyone and to ensure that it is not loaded with live ammunition.

Prosecutors tried to argue at a preliminary hearing that Mr. Baldwin had greater responsibilities for on-set safety as a producer, but Judge Sommer sided with the defense and said that was irrelevant to the case.

That means Mr. Baldwin’s role as producer — credit given for fundraising, creative input or physical production work — will not be included in the lawsuit.

But his defense team still has a lot of work to do to win its case, Lovell said, because it will have to help the jury understand a movie set – a space in which people have designated roles and obligations.

“They have to show the jury that once you start putting the onus on an actor to make sure a prop is safe, the set will descend into chaos,” he said.

“There is no evidence that he (Baldwin) could have distinguished between a fake bullet and a real bullet.”

Mr. Baldwin’s legal team will also likely argue that the actor should have been able to rely on the film’s armorer and security coordinator — Gutierrez-Reed and Halls, respectively — to ensure he could do his job without worry.

Mr. Baldwin is not currently scheduled to testify at the trial, but that does not mean it will not happen.

Most legal experts agree that there are very few reasons why a defendant should testify at trial because it allows prosecutors to cross-examine him.

Mr. Baldwin’s defense team may wait until the end of the trial to make a decision based on how the proceedings unfolded.

The trial is expected to last 10 days.

Gutierrez-Reed did not testify at his own trial.

Mr. Baldwin faces up to 18 months in prison on charges related to Ms. Hutchins’ death.

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

But even if the jury finds Mr. Baldwin not guilty, his legal troubles will not be over.

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

In a negligence lawsuit, they claim the cinematographer’s death and other injuries and deaths were “the probable result” of a film set that contained firearms, live ammunition and the actor “inexplicably” pointing and firing a gun at Ms. Hutchins.

Mr Baldwin said in recent court documents that he had struggled to find work as an actor since the incident.

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