Defence attorney says 'Alec Baldwin committed no crime; he was an actor, acting' at trial openings
CTV
A defence 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."
A defence 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.
