Alec Baldwin involuntary manslaughter trial begins in New Mexico

SANTA FE, N.M. — Jury selection for the involuntary manslaughter trial of Alec Baldwin is set to start on Tuesday according to ABC News. 

Tune in for the latest at 4:15.

 

The 66-year-old actor was charged in connection with the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of “Rust.”

According to the Associated Press, Baldwin maintains that the gun fired accidentally. He said he was not aware that it contained live rounds. If the jury were to convict, Baldwin could face 18 months in prison.  

KSL Legal Analyst Greg Skordas joined Dave and Dujanovic to discuss the case. 

 

“He’s being charged with manslaughter and he faces up to 18 months in prison. And one of the things that has bothered me — I get this is a tragedy — I don’t see how he is responsible for her death,” said host Dave Noriega who offered an example.

“If you and I are getting our tires changed, we take it to the tire shop [and] they put on new tires… but say they don’t tighten down one set of lug nuts.  As I’m driving down the freeway the tire flies off and I crash into somebody and I kill them. Am I responsible because I was driving, or would the tire company be responsible for not doing their job?” he said.

Hannah Gutierrez Reed, who was the armorer of the film “Rust,” was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter earlier this year. She was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Additionally, Noriega said Baldwin had decades of experience on set and had never been handed a live gun. 

“Why would he think in this one instance that there is a live round in that gun, especially when they said this is a ‘cold gun.'”

Skordas said this case didn’t quite match Noriega’s example. He said just because Baldwin had experience holding guns on set, it did not mean he was not responsible for his actions.

“Let’s say you go home for work every night through a certain intersection and there’s never once a car there. For years and years you drive through the same intersection… So, you decide one day to blow through the stop sign and you hit somebody. That doesn’t mean that you’re not culpable for that just because you have experience and and a lot of time driving through the same intersection with nobody there,” said Skordas.

“We have to treat a gun like a car. Like a dangerous weapon, it can hurt someone. And even if you have every reason to believe that it’s not loaded, that it’s not real. I mean, it’s sort of firearm 101. You don’t point a gun at someone that you don’t intend to shoot. I think that’s the state’s theory of the case. That’s why it’s involuntary manslaughter instead of a murder.”

Related: Ammo supplier says he provided no live rounds in fatal shooting of cinematographer by Alec Baldwin