Alec Baldwin's 'prop firearm' kills one, injures another

Sheriff's office: Alec Baldwin discharged prop gun that killed crew member, wounded director

Baldwin is one of the film's star actors and producers. He went to the sheriff's office willingly and provided a statement to investigators, sheriff's office spokesman Juan Ríos said.

www.santafenewmexican.com

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Actor Alec Baldwin discharged a "prop firearm" that killed a cinematographer and injured a the director of the movie Rust, being filmed on a set south of Santa Fe, a county sheriff's office spokesman said late Thursday.

Halyna Hutchins, 42 and the director of photography for the movie, died at University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque. The film's director, Joel Souza, was hospitalized in Santa Fe, Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office spokesman Juan Ríos said.

A source closed to the investigation said Baldwin, 63, was questioned by investigators late Thursday and was seen by a New Mexican reporter and photographer in tears.

Investigators are still trying to determine if the incident was an accident, Ríos said. No charges have been filed, and the investigation remains open, Ríos wrote in a news release.

The prop was fired at Bonanza Creek Ranch, where filming was underway, the sheriff's office said in an early evening news release. Baldwin stars in the production.

Hutchins died from her injuries after she was flown to University of New Mexico Hospital, according to the sheriff's office. Souza was taken to Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center, where he is receiving emergency care, the sheriff's office said. Attempts to get comment from Baldwin were unsuccessful.

“We received the devastating news this evening, that one of our members, Halyna Hutchins, the Director of Photography on a production called ‘Rust’ in New Mexico died from injuries sustained on the set,” John Lindley, the president of the International Cinematographers Guild Local 600, and Rebecca Rhine, the executive director, said in a statement, as reported by Variety. “The details are unclear at this moment, but we are working to learn more, and we support a full investigation into this tragic event. This is a terrible loss, and we mourn the passing of a member of our Guild’s family.”

Deputies were investigating how the accident occurred and "what type of projectile was discharged," the sheriff's office said in an earlier news release.

Rust Movie Productions did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Filming for Rust was set to continue into early November, according to a news release from the New Mexico Film Office. It's described as the story of a 13-year-old boy left to fend for himself and his younger brother following the death of their parents in 1880s Kansas, with New Mexico doubling for Kansas.

Guns firing blanks have been blamed for deaths in past movie productions. Online Hollywood news site Deadline reported, "Actor Jon-Erik Hexum was killed Oct. 18, 1984, on the set of the TV series Cover Up when he accidentally shot himself in the head with a gun loaded with blanks. And in 1993, Brandon Lee, the son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee, died after he was shot in the head by a gun firing blanks on the set of The Crow. Both incidents were determined to have been accidents."

This is a developing story and will be updated.

 

[Fat Gay Riker]

JesusChrist what a fucking idiot.

 

[Terrifik]

easy button

https://twitter.com/BNONews/status/1765515840550523280

 

[FatMan]

Yep, jury deliberated for just over 2 hours, not usually a good sign for the defense. Guilty on the involuntary manslaughter, and not guilty on the tampering with evidence.

 

[Dixieland Buckaroo]

The defense's gun expert was something else!

 

[Iron Hamster]

Yep, jury deliberated for just over 2 hours, not usually a good sign for the defense. Guilty on the involuntary manslaughter, and not guilty on the tampering with evidence.

yeah. that Sarah Zachary tampered with the evidence going so far as to throw rounds out

 

[John.Doe]

Yep, jury deliberated for just over 2 hours, not usually a good sign for the defense. Guilty on the involuntary manslaughter, and not guilty on the tampering with evidence.

Bad news for Baldwin. Her case was a lot weaker, and if the jury went guilty anyway. That likely mean, absent some luck and really amazing lawyering things are not looking good for Baldwin.

Which would be great, I'd love to see that bloated asshole go to prison for a few years.

 

[ForTheHoard]

View attachment 5790301
easy button

https://twitter.com/BNONews/status/1765515840550523280

If this happened in almost any other industry, there would be a top down look at their gun policies and rewrite them with this incident in mind. It's Hollywood so nothing will change and the next diversity placement armorer is already being hired.

I don't want to download an 8 hour video. It should be time stamped for the verdict at 7 hours 50 minutes.

The camera is really shaky but she was pretty stone cold about it. Not guilty of tampering with evidence.

 

[RodgerDodger]

If this happened in almost any other industry, there would be a top down look at their gun policies and rewrite them with this incident in mind. It's Hollywood so nothing will change and the next diversity placement armorer is already being hired.

I don't want to download an 8 hour video. It should be time stamped for the verdict at 7 hours 50 minutes.

The camera is really shaky but she was pretty stone cold about it. Not guilty of tampering with evidence.

Actually Baldwin has a problem here with the Unions. This was his production. And he was doing it in New Mexico to get out from under the much stricter California and Union rules governing film firearm safety. He was specifically sidestepping the strict industry safety rules, and fucked up. He’s now the poster child for what happens if you hire non union labor for movie gun safety.

 

[FatMan]

Bad news for Baldwin.

It could still go either way IMO. Reed's lawyers were absolutely terrible, in almost every way. The female lawyer that stepped in for the one that withdrew was obviously not fully up to speed, and she wasn't at all ready for prime time. Seemed very unsure of herself and kept bumbling through the exams. Bowles dropped the ball constantly, dating all the way back to the police interviews. Their gameplan was "throw everything at the wall and see what sticks", but they didn't do a good job at all of connecting the dots and casting the necessary doubt.

Those lawyers didn't do her any favors at best, and flat out lost her the case at worst.

That likely mean, absent some luck and really amazing lawyering things are not looking good for Baldwin.

Baldwin's lawyers will undoubtedly be better. For one, I highly doubt they'll let the prosecutor get away with so much bullshit unchecked. She would ask a set of questions on direct, let Bowles cross, then come back in with a completely new set of questions on redirect. I've never seen that before, and I'm amazed Bowles never objected to it even once. Yeah, she can just recall a witness later to get the other shit in, but just letting her do that with every single witness was shocking and frustrating to watch. I imagine Baldwin's lawyers will look like Johnny Cochrane in comparison.

Which would be great, I'd love to see that bloated asshole go to prison for a few years.

Totally agree, but at maximum he's only facing 18 months. He'll likely serve none in actual prison even if he's found guilty.

 

[WhatInTheActualFuck]

Bad news for Baldwin. Her case was a lot weaker, and if the jury went guilty anyway. That likely mean, absent some luck and really amazing lawyering things are not looking good for Baldwin.

Which would be great, I'd love to see that bloated asshole go to prison for a few years.

My only concern is that his lawyers will be able to con the jury in his trial into believing that it was all the (now guilty) armorer's fault.

Something along the lines of "How was he supposed to know it was loaded - the armorer said everything was copacetic?" and the jury buying that along with being a little starstruck by proximity to the awful Trump impersonator.

 

[Iron Hamster]

It could still go either way IMO.

There was one State witness (I forget who) that was brought in specifically to send a message to Baldwin as their questioning had absolutely nothing to do with Gutierrez' case.

 

[WonderWino]

Yep, jury deliberated for just over 2 hours, not usually a good sign for the defense. Guilty on the involuntary manslaughter, and not guilty on the tampering with evidence.

Thats odd considering there was plenty of blatant proof that she definitely tampered with evidence. The fuck was the jury smoking on that one? Did they get into her cocaine or something?

 

[John.Doe]

Baldwin's lawyers will undoubtedly be better. For one, I highly doubt they'll let the prosecutor get away with so much bullshit unchecked.

Oh, I don't doubt they'll be better, but they are facing a lot harder set of facts, with a more asshole client, and more direct proximity to the death. The case law is also very slanted against Baldwin, and a lot of his possible defenses were torpedoed by his own actions before the body got cold. My advice, with what is publicly available, would be to cop a plea.

Something along the lines of "How was he supposed to know it was loaded - the armorer said everything was copacetic?" and the jury buying that along with being a little starstruck by proximity to the awful Trump impersonator.

First, on the case law the state will likely get a pre-trial motion to even preclude any discussion of how a live round got on set or who loaded the firearm as it is all legally irrelevant, per the case law:

State v. Gilliam, 288 P.2d 675 (New Mexico Sup. Ct. 1955)
The decision was an appeal of a criminal conviction at a jury trial, in which the defendant had been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter by the act of unsafely handling a gun with the result that it discharged and killed the victim.

The NM Supreme Court ruled in that decision, in relevant part that:
It could have made no difference to the trial of a charge of involuntary manslaughter as to who loaded the gun … . All that it is necessary to establish for involuntary manslaughter by the use of a loaded firearm is that a defendant had in his hands a gun which at some time had been loaded and that he handled it … without due caution and circumspection and that death resulted.

Pointing a loaded gun at someone and pulling the trigger counts as 'handling without due caution and circumspection'. The prosecutor is more than competent enough to drill it into the jury, and the judge will instruct them per the law accordingly. Baldwin can't hide behind her conviction or her failure to control ammunition on set as a legal matter.

Furthermore, as I mentioned, Alec already blasted his own best defenses by his arrogant decisions to talk with the cops at length, without his attorney. The important highlights being admitting he knew he was handling a real, functional gun capable of shooting live ammunition, his bragging about his knowledge/training with guns and their dangerous nature, etc. Oh, and lets not forget his decades of gun control advocacy and years of training with guns on sets in Hollywood too. If he tries to pull a "tee-hee I'm just an actor and I trusted her" then he's going to get beaten to death with his own statements, SAG actor guidelines, and so on. Hannah could try the "I'm dumb and easily pushed around" defense, but Alec is the top star and also a producer. Nothing and nobody could have forced Baldwin to NOT check the firearm, NOT demanding to use a stunt prop for a rehearsal, NOT refusing to point a gun at another person, or NOT refusing to pull/play with the trigger. Nobody is going to believe for a second that Alec couldn't or wouldn't throw his weight around to do things exactly the way he wanted to do them.

Ultimately, any single competent person would have prevented this, but the tragic truth is that Alec Baldwin was knowingly reckless and negligent both in his overall role as producer and acutely as an actor. He hired poorly and supervised worse, creating an atmosphere of palpable danger for his crew, ignoring frequent 'accidents' caused by carelessness and crew walkouts in depraved indifference to the risk of death or great bodily harm.
As an actor he failed to treat a potentially deadly weapon with the due caution demanded by the risk it posed, by recklessly pointing it at another person and either deliberately pulling the trigger or allowing it to discharge, he acted with negligence resulting in the untimely death of a crew member.
Baldwin had the ultimate, final power to prevent Hutchins death. He could have checked the gun, or even asked why they weren't using a rubber stunt gun for a rehearsal, or simply followed the most basic safety rules and NOT pointed a firearm at another human being. Rules he should know from his decades of experience in Hollywood and as a board member of several 'gun safety' organizations - rules he had no reason to avoid as the biggest star and producer of the movie.

Alex Baldwin is both indirectly and directly responsible for Halyna Hutchin's death - he created the circumstances that made the firing of that gun possible, and aimed that gun directly at her at the time that it fired. All other circumstances and failures, absent Mr. Baldwin's negligence and reckless actions, Mrs. Hutchins would be alive today.

 

[FatMan]

Thats odd considering there was plenty of blatant proof that she definitely tampered with evidence. The fuck was the jury smoking on that one? Did they get into her cocaine or something?

They likely concluded that the state didn't prove beyond doubt that "it was cocaine", as alleged. Because they didn't test it. Because it got destroyed/tossed.

The problem I have with the way this one was framed, is that the end result that got her off is exactly what committing the crime is trying to accomplish. Her tampering with the evidence directly led to it being thrown away and kept it from being tested, which then makes it impossible to say what she was trying to hide. The evidence was clear that it was some sort of drugs, and that should have been enough to ding her for tampering with it IMO. The way it was framed though puts a weird impossible burden on the state that made the charge seemingly destined to fail as written.

 

[PFM]

Bad news for Baldwin. Her case was a lot weaker, and if the jury went guilty anyway. That likely mean, absent some luck and really amazing lawyering things are not looking good for Baldwin.

Which would be great, I'd love to see that bloated asshole go to prison for a few years.

My understanding is in New Mexico you can only get up to like 6 months for involuntary manslaughter.

 

[Tiny Chinaman]

does this mean self defense is legal again?

 

[Super-Chevy454]

Bad news for Baldwin. Her case was a lot weaker, and if the jury went guilty anyway. That likely mean, absent some luck and really amazing lawyering things are not looking good for Baldwin.

Which would be great, I'd love to see that bloated asshole go to prison for a few years.

Yeah, he should be careful to not drop the soap and I doubt the Chewbacca defense will work for Alec Baldwin.

 

[Pocket Dragoon]

Gutierrez found guilty of manslaughter & remanded into custody:

 

[Bloom Worm Cross Field]

Baldwin's reaction video:

> she tells him the girl didn't make it
> he does his fake-looking, "NO!", hand-over-mouth reaction
> the exact same second, "Actor Alec Baldwin" flashes up onto the screen

 

[Thomas Talus]

Something along the lines of "How was he supposed to know it was loaded - the armorer said everything was copacetic?" and the jury buying that along with being a little starstruck by proximity to the awful Trump impersonator.

My understanding of the protocols for firearms on set is that every person who handles the firearm is responsible for checking it. The armorer is supposed to check it, the actor who will be using it is supposed to check it, and everyone who passes it along between the two is supposed to check it, for this exact reason. Their duties of care are all independent of everyone else's.