The prosecution in the Alec Baldwin manslaughter trial claimed that the actor ‘played make-believe’ with the gun on set prior to the shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
During this week’s opening statements, the defense portrayed Baldwin as an actor doing his job who then had the misfortune of being in a situation that led to a tragic death. They claimed that Baldwin trusted his crew and that he had no reason to believe that he had been given a loaded gun before shooting Hutchins. Baldwin previously pleaded not guilty and that he never pulled the trigger. The prosecution, however, painted a different picture, claiming that Baldwin “played make-believe with a real gun” and “violated the cardinal rules of firearms safety.”
“While it was a movie set, it was a real, live workplace for many people,” prosecutor Erlinda Johnson said in her opening statements. “You will hear that this workplace was on a tight budget… and some of the people who were hired were inexperienced.”
Baldwin’s defense, attorney Alex Spiro, argued that Baldwin had been “acting as he’s done for generations, and it was the safety apparatus that failed them all,” noting that real bullets should never have been near a movie set, placing the blame squarely on Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter earlier this year.
“Alec Baldwin committed no crime,” said Spiro. “It was an actor handling a prop.”
“Real bullets are never supposed to be on movie sets,” he added.
On October 21, 2021, while filming the western movie Rust, Alec Baldwin shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal. Baldwin claims the revolver that he had been given from the AD suddenly fired when he pulled back the hammer, emphatically stating that he did not pull the trigger.
Subsequent analysis of the firearm from the FBI later concluded that “the trigger had to be pulled or depressed sufficiently to release the fully cocked or retracted hammer of the evidence revolver.”
The prosecution focused intensely on Baldwin’s claim that he did not pull the trigger, citing the FBI investigation. However, the defense countered their argument by claiming that “the FBI destroyed parts of the weapon – thus preventing it from being used for further analysis,” according to BBC News.
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