The 66-year-old Baldwin, on trial in Hollywood’s first on-set shooting fatality in three decades, took notes at the defence table and listened calmly to opening statements in his involuntary manslaughter trial.
The trial is largely unprecedented in US history, holding an actor criminally responsible for a gun death during filming.
Actor Alec Baldwin is facing a single charge of involuntary manslaughter in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust. Photo / Getty Images
A New Mexico jury of 12 and four alternates - 11 women and five men - heard prosecutor Erlinda Johnson outline arguments that Baldwin disregarded safety during filming of the low-budget movie before pointing a gun at Hutchins during a rehearsal, cocking it and pulling the trigger as they set up a camera shot on a set southwest of Santa Fe.
”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.
Baldwin’s wife Hilaria Baldwin sat in the second row of the public gallery, his brother Stephen Baldwin in front of her.
A still from a video clip featuring Alec Baldwin shown during the involuntary manslaughter trial of Hannah Gutierrez-Reed at the First Judicial District Courthouse. Photo / Getty Images
His lawyer Alex Spiro pointed to Rust armourer Hannah Gutierrez - head of gun safety - and first assistant director Dave Halls - responsible for overall set safety. Both have been convicted in the shooting, and Spiro said they did not check the rounds in the gun to ensure it was safe for Baldwin to use.
“There were people responsible for firearms safety but actor Alec Baldwin committed no crime,” said Spiro.
Hutchins was killed, and director Joel Souza wounded when Baldwin’s reproduction 1873 Single Action Army revolver fired a live round, inadvertently loaded by Gutierrez.
Since a police interview on October 21, 2021, the day of the shooting, Baldwin has argued the gun just “went off.”
Actor Alec Baldwin is comforted by his wife Hilaria Baldwin at Santa Fe County District Court on July 10, 2024. Photo / Getty Images
In an ABC News interview two months later, Baldwin told George Stephanopoulos he did not pull the trigger.
A 2022 FBI test found the gun was in normal working condition and would not fire from full cock without the trigger being pulled.
In a sign the defence was backing away from that position, Spiro said that even if Baldwin pulled the trigger, it was not a crime. He said it was the job of Gutierrez and Halls to safely allow an actor “to wave it, to point it, to pull the trigger, like actors do”.
”On a movie set you’re allowed to pull the trigger, so even if he intentionally pulled the trigger, as prosecutors said, that doesn’t mean he committed a homicide,” said Spiro.
State prosecutors charged Baldwin with involuntary manslaughter in January 2022.
They dropped charges three months later after Baldwin’s lawyers presented photographic evidence the gun was modified, arguing it would fire more easily, bolstering the actor’s accidental discharge argument.
Prosecutors called a grand jury to reinstate the charge in January after an independent firearms expert confirmed the 2022 FBI study.
Alec Baldwin (left), embraces his brother, actor Stephen Baldwin, during the hearing at Santa Fe County District Court. Photo / Getty Images
FBI testing broke the gun, and Baldwin’s lawyers will tell jurors that destruction of the weapon prevented them from proving the gun was modified.
Gutierrez, whose job on the set of Rust included managing firearms safely, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in March for loading the live round.
Prosecutors will have to persuade jurors Baldwin is also guilty of willful and reckless criminal negligence.
