Monday, March 11, 2024 – I’m American actor, Alec Baldwin will reportedly have a potential list of actors testify in his upcoming manslaughter trial in the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the New Mexico set of the Western film Rust on October 21, 2021.
Insiders close to the case told TMZ on Thursday that
Oscar-nominated actor, 65, and his team are 'considering putting together a
list of famous people' who would take the stand in his defense, as in January,
he entered a not guilty plea to involuntary manslaughter.
This comes a day after a New Mexico jury deliberated less
than three hours before convicting armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, 26, of
involuntary manslaughter in Hutchins' death.
Gutierrez-Reed was swiftly taken into custody after the
verdict was read, as she awaits sentencing, facing up to 18 months in prison.
The 30 Rock actor and his team are specifically looking to
build a witness list of 'people who've already spoken out in Alec's defense,'
insiders told the outlet.
The focal point of the testimony would be how responsible an
actor is for the weapons on the set of a production, sources told TMZ, adding
that plans were nowhere close to being finalized yet.
Actors who have past publicly spoken in defense of Baldwin
include his Rust costar Frances Fisher, as well as Mickey Rourke, Debra
Messing, and DJ Qualls.
Rourke, 71, told the outlet that he has not been in contact
with anyone from Baldwin's legal team, but that he would be willing to testify
in defense of the actor.
'Whatever Alec needs I’ll be there 100 percent,' Rourke
said. 'The armorer is 100 percent responsible for any gun handed to an actor.
Especially, to an actor who didn't have experience with guns.'
Rourke in January of 2023 on Instagram that there's 'no way
in hell actor Alec Baldwin should be charged with any negligence whatsoever,'
as 'the guns are supposed to he handled only by' the weapon armorer.
The Academy Award-nominated actor added, 'the powers [that]
be charging Baldwin with this responsibility is terribly wrong,' adding that
Baldwin 'is already suffering enough over what happened' and it's 'terribly
terribly wrong' to blame him for the tragic shooting.
Fisher said in January 2023 in a social media post in
reaction to a Deadline story about the case, 'Anyone NOT in the industry or who
has not worked on a set should STFU - you’re showing your ignorance.'
Fisher, 71, added: 'The grandstanding prosecutor doesn’t
even go after the true culprit: Who put a live round in the gun?‼️ There is NO
investigation about that. THAT is the question.'
Gutierrez-Reed on Wednesday was swiftly taken into custody
as she awaits sentencing, facing up to 18 months in prison.
Baldwin figured prominently into testimony and closing
arguments over two weeks that highlighted his authority as a co-producer and
the lead actor on Rust. Both the prosecution and defense in Gutierrez-Reed´s
trial dissected video footage of Baldwin before the fatal shooting for clues
about breakdowns in firearms safety.
Baldwin´s trial is scheduled for July and will involve the
same judge and prosecutors as well as many of the same witnesses. Baldwin has
maintained that he pulled back the gun´s hammer, but not the trigger, and the
weapon fired, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.
Having seen Gutierrez-Reed's trial play out will be a boon
to Baldwin and his legal team, said Emily D. Baker, a legal analyst and former
Los Angeles deputy district attorney who wasn't involved in the case but
followed it closely.
'They´re in the incredible position of getting to watch this
prosecutor in action, see how this judge works, and come in knowing exactly
what these experts are going to say and how they present to the jury,' Baker
said Wednesday. 'I don´t think Baldwin´s going to want to deal in this case,
and I think his legal team will tell him this is a very different case than the
case against Hannah.'
A weapons expert for the prosecution in Gutierrez-Reed's
case gave strong testimony, Baker said. But the armorer expert was aligned with
what Baldwin's team has been saying all along - that it wasn't his job to check
the weapon, Baker said.
Expert witness and movie firearms consultant Bryan Carpenter
testified that images showed Baldwin firing blanks toward a camera within a
'no-go' zone at close range, flouting safety protocols as he commanded crew
members to quickly reload his revolver, and waving a gun like a pointing stick
after the close of one scene. Another clip captures the sound of Baldwin firing
a gun after a director calls out, 'Cut!'
Investigators haven't found any video recordings of the
shooting, which took place during a rehearsal inside a makeshift church on
October 21, 2021, on a movie set outside Santa Fe. But Gutierrez-Reed's trial
included previously undisclosed testimony from eyewitnesses to the shooting.
Those witnesses included Souza, who felt the shock of a
bullet's impact as he moved in for a view of the camera monitor - but never saw
the gun that shot him.
A camera-dolly operator and the assistant director Dave
Halls also gave visceral accounts of the revolver firing and the aftermath.
Script writer Mamie Mitchell testified that the script didn't call for Baldwin
to point the gun.
'Alec Baldwin´s conduct and his lack of gun safety inside
that church on that day is something that he´s going to have to answer for,'
prosecutor Kari Morrissey said in her closing arguments against Gutierrez-Reed.
'Not with you and not today. That´ll be with another jury, on another day.'
Morrissey and co-counsel Jason Lewis presented the case
against Baldwin to a grand jury in January and secured an indictment on the
single felony count that gives them two pathways to prosecution.
A recent analysis of the gun gave them the opportunity to
reboot the case after an initial involuntary manslaughter charge against
Baldwin was dismissed.
That analysis by Forensic Science Services in Arizona
concluded 'the trigger had to be pulled or depressed sufficiently to release
the fully cocked or retracted hammer of the evidence revolver.'
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