Prosecutors say Alec Baldwin broke ‘cardinal rules’ for handling guns
Al Jazeera
The Hollywood actor’s trial has begun in Santa Fe, three years after Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins’s killing.
A New Mexico prosecutor has argued that actor Alec Baldwin broke “cardinal rules” for handling guns in the 2021 killing of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, while his lawyer said he was failed by the movie’s set safety experts who already have been convicted in the case.
Baldwin, 66, is on trial in Hollywood’s first on-set shooting death in three decades. He took notes at the defence table and listened calmly to opening statements in his involuntary manslaughter trial on Wednesday.
A 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 was also present at the hearing and sat in the second row of the public gallery. His brother Stephen Baldwin sat in front of her.
