SANTA FE, N.M. (news agencies) — A defense attorney told jurors Wednesday that the shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was an “unspeakable tragedy” but that “ Alec Baldwin committed no crime; he was an actor, acting.”
Baldwin’s lawyer Alex Spiro emphasized in his opening statement in a Santa Fe, New Mexico, courtroom that Baldwin, who is on trial for involuntary manslaughter, did exactly what actors always do on the set of the film “Rust,” where Hutchins was killed in October, 2021.
“I don’t have to tell you any more about this, because you’ve all seen gunfights in movies,” Spiro said.
Special prosecutor Erlinda Ocampo Johnson argued in her opening statement that Baldwin “violated the cardinal rules of firearm safety” by skipping safety checks and recklessly handling a revolver in the moments leading up to the shooting.
“The evidence will show that someone who played make believe with a real gun and violated the cardinal rules of firearm safety is the defendant, Alexander Baldwin,” Johnson said.
Spiro replied that “these cardinal rules, they’re not cardinal rules on a movie set.”
“On a movie set, safety has to occur before a gun is placed in an actor’s hand,” Spiro told the jury.
Johnson emphasized in her opening that the set was a workplace, where innocent people had the expectation of safety that Baldwin and others denied them.
“The evidence will show that like in many workplaces, there are people who act in a reckless manner and place other people in danger,” Johnson said. “That, you will hear, is the defendant.”
Johnson walked the jurors through the events leading up to Hutchins death. She said on that day, Baldwin declined multiple opportunities for standard safety checks with armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed before the rehearsal in the small church about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from the courthouse where Hutchins, “a vibrant 42-year-old rising star,” was killed. She said Baldwin instead “did his own thing.”
“He cocks the hammer, points it straight at Miss Hutchins, and fires that gun, sending that live bullet right into Miss Hutchins body,” said Johnson, a relative newcomer to the case, appointed in late April by the Santa Fe district attorney’s office.
During the presentation, Baldwin trained his eyes downward on a notepad, away from the jury. He watched Spiro intently during his opening. His wife Hilaria Baldwin and his brother, actor Stephen Baldwin, were among the family and friends sitting behind him.
The trial will delve into the confluence of gun safety, high-wattage celebrity and a low-budget Western movie on the remote ranch set.
The 16 jurors — 11 women and five men — come from a region with strong currents of gun ownership and safety informed by backcountry hunting. Four of the jurors will be deemed alternates while the other 12 deliberate once they get the case.
Hutchins’ death and the wounding of director Joel Souza nearly three years ago sent shock waves through the film industry and led to one felony charge against Baldwin, 66, that could result in up to 18 months in prison.
“It killed an amazing person,” Spiro said. “It wounded another, and it changed lives forever.”
Baldwin has claimed the gun fired accidentally after he followed instructions to point it toward Hutchins, who was behind the camera. Unaware that it was loaded with a live round, he said he pulled back the hammer — not the trigger — and it fired.
“No one saw him intentionally pull the trigger,” Spiro said.
But he said even if Baldwin had pulled it and was lying, Spiro said, it still would not have been manslaughter.
“On a movie set, you’re allowed to pull that trigger,” Spiro said, adding, “that doesn’t make it a homicide.”
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