Alec Baldwin Has Brutal Reaction to Rough Images from 'Rust' Manslaughter Trial
Jurors on Wednesday viewed police bodycam footage during Alec Baldwin’s manslaughter trial in the October 2021 shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the movie “Rust.”
Baldwin, 66, “was left looking in agony” as the footage was shown in court during the first day of the trial in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the U.K.’s Daily Mail reported.
In the video, Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Deputy Nicholas LeFleur was heard advising dispatchers of “one female shot in the chest, male shot in the stomach” and calling for an air evacuation, according to the report.
The video “captured the frantic efforts to save Hutchins, who looked unconscious as several people attended to her and gave her an oxygen mask,” The Associated Press reported. “In the courtroom, Baldwin looked at the screen somberly as it played.”
Special prosecutor Erlinda Johnson told the jury the actor was playing “make-believe with a real gun,” CNN reported.
“Baldwin has claimed the gun fired accidentally after he followed instructions to point it toward Hutchins, who was behind the camera,” the AP reported.
“Unaware that it was loaded with a live round, he said he pulled back the hammer — not the trigger — and it fired.”
But Johnson discounted that version of the facts, according to CNN.
“The evidence will show, ladies and gentlemen, that’s not possible,” she told the jury.
The weapon was in “perfect working order,” the prosecutor said.
Johnson said Baldwin “declined multiple opportunities for standard safety checks with armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed before the rehearsal,” the AP reported.
She went on to describe the moment where Baldwin “cocks the hammer, points it straight at Miss Hutchins, and fires that gun, sending that live bullet right into Miss Hutchins body.”
Director Joel Souza was wounded in the shoulder in the incident.
Baldwin’s attorney, Alex Spiro, told jurors during opening statements that his client’s actions were not criminal.
He was simply “an actor, acting,” Spiro said.
The attorney said the accident was the result of a failure by those who were responsible for ensuring safety on the set.
Guiterrez-Reed was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the case in February. She was given the maximum sentence of 18 months in prison.
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