Fewer than three weeks before actor Alec Baldwin is due to go on trial in Santa Fe, New Mexico, prosecutors have said that he “engaged in horseplay with the revolver”, including firing a blank round at a crew member on the set of Rust before the tragic accident occurred.
Baldwin is facing involuntary manslaughter charges in the 2021 shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
In new court documents, prosecutors said they plan to bring new evidence to support their case that the 66-year-old actor and producer was reckless with firearms while filming on the set and displayed “erratic and aggressive behavior during the filming” that created potential safety concerns.
Prosecutors in the case, which is due to go to trial on 10 July, have previously alleged that to watch Baldwin’s conduct on the set of Rust “is to witness a man who has absolutely no control of his own emotions and absolutely no concern for how his conduct affects those around him”.
In the latest filing, special prosecutors Kari Morrissey and Erlinda Johnson allege that Baldwin pointed his gun and fired “a blank round at a crew member while using that crew member as a line of site as his perceived target”.
This was always a political bag of bullshit. They even had to fund it as a special prosecution with legislation, going so far as to assign a special prosecutor that happened to also be a state Republican legislator.
The gymnastics people keep using to align blame for manslaughter onto Bladwin have slowly become accepted as if it is factual like propaganda is meant to do.
Even if the armorer was at fault, he’s still the producer, he ultimately hired and vetted the person. Apparently there were complains about safety on set too.
Yeah been following the rust cases closely.
Kari Morrissey was the one who secured the conviction for Hannah Gutierrez Reid.
Important things to note for Alec Baldwin’s case: he’s got more money and resources for his defense. There’s a bunch of high class attorneys that entered appearance for Baldwin. But he has 2 major problems: those attorneys are not from new Mexico. A good lawyer knows the law and a great lawyer knows the judge. Additionally, he is known for being bad at safety and security. That was already becoming clear in HGR’s trial. But legally things are bad as well: he held the weapon. Now in other states that doesn’t make him more culpable than HGR, but in new Mexico basically everyone holding a weapon is held accountable for the consequences of whatever they do while holding the weapon. This, together with what I would predict are looking like pretty bad facts for him rn, is an indication that he has a steep climb to make, unless Morrissey fucks up in a major way.
Pretty solid summarization of the situation. I definitely think that Baldwin’s on site safety problems and the seemingly rushed nature of production are going to bite him.
I think lying about pulling the trigger will become an issue as well.
but in new Mexico basically everyone holding a weapon is held accountable for the consequences of whatever they do while holding the weapon
Which is how it should be.
Remember that this occured during a strike, and Baldwin brought in scabs to fill the positions, and then pushed one of those scabs to be the fallguy, despite baldwin being both the one in the position of power, and the one who fired the gun without checking it was loaded.
It’s not the actor’s job to check if a prop is a functional weapon. They have other things to be focusing on.
But since he hired the people and set the policies, he’s still responsible.
It is the job of anyone handling a firearm to handle it in a safe and responsible manner.
You don’t get to pull “not my job” when you were holding the firearm that killed someone.
Especially since the normal on set was so far below the industry standard - a fact I would expect somebody with is broad and extensive experience to know as a qualified actor.
He had a duty of care to check the weapon and to handle it safely and he didn’t.
He had a duty of care to not point a fucking lethal weapon at people, and he did.
(This is in addition to potential liability as a producer and a duty of care to ensure workplace safety.)
It is the job of anyone handling a dangerous object to handle it safely. If they can’t, they shouldn’t.
If that’s the norm then it needs to change. If actors truly don’t have time to take safety courses to learn then have stunt doubles stand in for scenes where they hold firearms.
If you have a gun in your hand, then the safety of that gun is your responsibility. You cannot delegate that responsibility, morally or legally.
Or maybe it is the job of any actor pulling the trigger on a gun to check whether it is a real or prop gun and to never do so while there is another person in the line of fire.
It is not. That is why they have a prop master and a master at arms. That person is the one who fucked up.
Iirc hadn’t the staff responsible for that walked off the set three days earlier because of gross negligence (including two previous on set negligent discharges without injury) after the producer, Alec Baldwin, refused to heed their safety warnings?
Hadn’t heard that detail but it wouldn’t surprise me.
Is carbonated pasta sauce good? I’ve tried carbonated salad dressing. Are you a marinara sauce?
Sounds like Jack Donaghy was on the set.
Horseplay… With a gun… So he was playing at shooting someone who had broken their leg?
To be fair, I have never seen an American who had a gun not act like a goof.
Find better Americans then.
You must not know many people in the US then
Guns are deadly. I cannot count the times that I found an “unloaded” gun, both mine and others, that was found to contain a cartridge over the years. People get excited, they forget it was loaded, they get distracted, cartridges can get stuck when unloading. I can tell you stories that will make you cringe.
You shouldn’t own guns. Clearing the weapon before storage is basic safety. If you are “forgetting” that you left a round in, you don’t have the mental capacity to own a firearm.
Randomly finding out a stored gun is loaded has never happened to me or anyone I know.
Clearly you’ve never done guns with sleep deprivation or anything other than a range day. There’s a reason you’re supposed to check every time you pick a gun up.
I’m just going out on the limb here, but I’m feeling you are prior service for the military and probably with a little combat experience. Correct me if wrong though.
Yup. Can’t speak for the other guy but the entire reason the rule about always checking exists is because a lot of professions with guns will run you ragged and that’s when mistakes happen.
Please stop doing things that create those stories. For your safety and everyone elses.
Start by having someone that actually knows how to handle firearms take them away from you.
People in here responding like you guys just party with guns and alcohol and don’t care but obviously you’re doing your safety check whenever you pick one up. Don’t worry about these guys.
Holy shit you’re in this topic defending the idiot that’s unable to remember the countless times they forget to unload their guns?
How fucking dumb are you? LMAO!
Probably smarter than you on this one. Over a large enough sample and time period mistakes happen. That’s why you check every time. And from their post they obviously understand that.
I cannot count the times that I found an “unloaded” gun, both mine and others, that was found to contain a cartridge over the years.
You continue to be one of the dumbest idiots I’ve ever talked to if this is what you call smart.
Hey you forgot to kiss me first!
Can you not even partially acknowledge that what he is praising is that this guy is successfully realizing that guns are loaded before handling them. This is exactly the behaviour that would have prevented the shooting in the case being discussed.
U should go trade ur gun for a brain
