Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Alec Baldwin Trial: Everything You Need To Know As Trial Begins

Episode Date: July 9, 2024

Alec Baldwin's manslaughter trial for the death of "Rust" cinematographer Halyna Hutchins began Tuesday with jury selection in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Prosecutors and Baldwin's defense team questioned 70 prospective jurors after Alec Baldwin arrived with one of his seven young children, his wife and brother. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy has all of the details and everything you can expect from the trial in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:If you’re ever injured in an accident, you can check out Morgan & Morgan. You can submit a claim in 8 clicks or less without having to leave your couch. To start your claim, visit: https://www.forthepeople.com/LCCRIMEFIXHost:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5CRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@LawandCrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this law and crimes series ad free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Alec Baldwin arriving for jury selection in his manslaughter trial for the death of cinematographer Helena Hutchins. Baldwin's wife, Hilaria Baldwin, and one of their seven young children arrived with them. Mr. Baldwin, would you like to say anything this morning? How are you feeling? I take a look at what happened during jury selection and what you can expect from this Hollywood trial.

I'm Anjanette Levy and this is Crime Fix, coming to you from the courthouse in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where Alec Baldwin's manslaughter trial is now underway. Actor Alec Baldwin arrived at the courthouse this morning with his lawyers, of course, and his wife, Hilaria Baldwin, and they had a baby with them. It was one of their seven children. That child was then handed off to a woman. The baby actually started crying and seemed quite upset. She was faced with a number of cameras. Now, some people may say that this was all for the media. It might have been some type of PR move to garner sympathy from the jury, from the public, from anybody who may be watching. Neither of the Baldwin's answered any

of my questions. Mrs. Baldwin, anything to say this morning? Mrs. Baldwin? Alec Baldwin's brother, Stephen Baldwin, also an actor, is also at the courthouse to show support for his brother. Seventy prospective jurors were summoned to the courthouse this morning, and things really got off to a late start. The air conditioning here in the courtroom was on the fritz, and everybody was too warm, and there was a delay in getting those 70 jurors checked in. So things did not start until well after 11 a.m. As things were delayed this morning, we actually heard from Alec Baldwin on Instagram. Take a look at this post. It says Sheldon Whitehouse for vice president. Sheldon Whitehouse is actually a U.S. senator from Rhode Island. So that's all we've heard

from Alec Baldwin. He must have been bored and posted on his Instagram account. Questioning of the prospective jurors started after 11 Mountain Time, as I mentioned, and two men said that they could not be impartial. One man said he had researched the case extensively, and another man said that he would be very biased against Alec Baldwin because he was familiar with union rules. That could become very important in this case because the Screen Actors Guild rules and safety warnings could become an issue when it comes to talking about gun safety on movie sets. Those two men were excused. Most of the jurors said they were familiar with Alec Baldwin. One woman, get this, actually said that she could not serve on the jury because she

takes marijuana every morning, although she didn't do it this morning, she said, because she knew she would be driving. And that got quite a laugh from people in the courtroom. Another woman said that she's having a shoulder replaced this week, so she could not participate in jury service. The judge jokingly said to her, are you sure you don't want to stick around? That also got a little bit of a laugh. Only three prospective jurors said that they had not heard about the Rust shooting case. Special Prosecutor Carrie Morrissey started by asking the pool about news coverage of the case. Most had seen the coverage. One woman said she had a decision about how she felt, but she could still listen and be fair. Now, before jury selection started on Monday, Alec Baldwin appeared in court for the first time during these proceedings for a day-long motion hearing. Judge Mary Marlowe Summer heard arguments on a number of issues.

One of the more significant rulings, she determined the jury will not hear about Alec Baldwin's status as a producer on Rust. Prosecutors had argued that Baldwin being a producer meant that he was in charge, so he had more responsibility to ensure that the set was safe. But Judge Marlo Summer said a prosecution expert wouldn't be allowed to testify about Baldwin being a producer because the expert wasn't qualified to do so, and she felt Baldwin's role as a producer wasn't relevant. I'm going to revisit the producer. I'm going to revisit the producer I'm going to make the following finding I'm having real difficulty with the state's position that they want to show that as a producer he didn't follow guidelines, and therefore, as an actor, Mr. Baldwin did all these things wrong, resulting in the death of Helena Hutchins because, as a producer, he allowed this all to happen.

I think that when you look at the relevancy, I think that one of the reasons why I think I'm having a hard time wrapping my hand around it, to be able to say Mr. Baldwin, because he was a producer and he was the boss, although there were more than one producer, and he couldn't do anything without looking at those contracts. He couldn't do a thing without running it by, including hiring somebody, without running it by whatever that entity is in the contract. But I do not believe that it has any tendency to make more probable than it would be without the fact that Mr. Baldwin individually as an actor committed involuntary manslaughter through negligent use of a deadly weapon

and the alternative theory. The probative value is not substantially outweighed by unfair prejudice and certainly confusion of issues to the jury. So I'm denying evidence of his status as a producer. This case is a really, really tough one. And it just goes to show you that the world is not always the safest place. A lot of the cases I cover here on Crime Facts make it clear that the world is crazy

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And one of the best things about Morgan & Morgan is how easy they make this whole process for their clients. Starting a claim takes eight clicks or less and it can all be done from your smartphone and there are no upfront fees. You only pay them if you win. So if you're hurt, you can easily start a claim in eight clicks or less. Just log on to ForThePeople.com slash CrimeFix. There was another ruling that went in favor of Alec Baldwin and it involves Alessandro Pieta and how he can testify. He is seen here on the Muzzle Loaders podcast last year. Pieta owns the firearms plant in Italy where the Colt.45 revolver was manufactured.

Prosecutors wanted him to testify as an expert about the gun. We have a made-up defense of the gun was modified, the gun wasn't functioning properly. There's not a single witness who is going to support that. Not a single witness, including the defendant himself. Yet, the defense is going to be put forth. If I don't call Mr. Pietta, we're going to find ourselves in closing arguments, and the defense is going to say to the jury, you don't know how this gun was manufactured. Maybe there was a mistake. You don't have any idea what condition it was when it left Italy. It could have left Italy in this condition, and then it made it to EMF, and then it made it to Mr. Kinney,

and then it made it into poor Mr. Baldwin's hands and it malfunctioned. That's what they're going to do. I can't let them. So I am bringing the man who owns the manufacturing company to testify. But Alec Baldwin's attorneys argued that Pieta should not be allowed to testify as an expert witness. Two things, Your Honor. That's exactly the concern we have about Mr. Pieta. He hasn't inspected the gun, hasn't reviewed the gun reports. To look at a picture of a gun he saw seven years ago and to say, I think the damage occurred this way, that is not reliable expert testimony. He hasn't inspected it. He has no idea the conditions under which it was used, the conditions of the FBI testing. The court makes a following ruling. The court finds that Mr. Pieta is properly a fact witness. He's not an

expert witness. He can testify to his knowledge of the gun before it left the factory. He can say it was a functioning gun if he tested it at that time. I think that you want the court to follow down the meander of strong functioning gun. He's not going to say strong. He's going to say that it was functioning, and I think that the creation or origination of that gun, for purposes of what Ms. Morrissey said, so that in closing it's quelled with respect to, in so many words, how do we know it was looking good when it got manufactured?

So he comes in, but his testimony is going to end to his knowledge of when it left the factory. He can't testify. He just learned that it was broken by somebody told him the FBI broke it. And all he can say is, yeah, it's broken. The bottom line on the ruling from the judge, Alessandro Pieta can testify as a fact witness about the condition of the revolver, but not as an expert. Now, Rust is a movie set. So, of course, cameras were rolling constantly. So there's a lot of video of Alec Baldwin handling guns on the set. We saw some clips of that during Hannah Gutierrez Reid's

trial. Here's one of those clips. Well, let me show you something. Hold on. Step back to your original mark. So one one thousand, two one thousand, three. I'm getting up. Right. Then when he drops his arm, he drops it. That means Brady's close. I'm going to start to really get up. Alec Baldwin is directing people on set, almost using that gun as a pointer, telling people what to do. One more, one more, one more. I forgot to reload.

Right away, right away, let's reload. Here we go. Judge Marlo Sommer issued this decision about those videos on Monday. Any of the videos or any evidence or pictures which relate to Mr. Baldwin not handling or that goes to the defendants, the gun work didn't work and they're showing that it did work because he's shooting videos that show that he's cocking the gun when he doesn't need to cock the gun goes to the negligent use of a deadly weapon. However, everything else regarding him yelling at the crew or telling people to hurry up, none of that is relevant, and that is propensity evidence. So I think that you all can look at the videos, look at any of those exhibits, and that is propensity evidence. So I think that you all can look at the videos, look at any of those exhibits, and agree which ones meet my ruling. And if you can't do that,

then I'll have to help you out. Okay? And of course, the jury will hear a lot about firearms safety on movie sets during this trial. The prosecution's argument is that Alec Baldwin caused Helena Hutchins' death by his negligence. Brian Carpenter, a firearm safety expert, testified about who's at fault when a gun discharges accidentally. Are you aware, based on the review of the documents and the materials in this case, are you aware that there were I think what you're referring to as negligent discharges yes okay and are you also aware that with regard to those negligent discharges miss Gutierrez was not in control of those weapons at the moment it It is my understanding, yes. Okay. So if there's a negligent discharge on a movie set,

ultimately, who's responsible for that? It would be the armorer's responsibility. Now, obviously, that blame also can be split with whoever created the negligent discharge, but if you create an environment for the ND to occur, then the blame is on the armorer and on the person who actually had the negligent discharge. So it's a double-sided coin there. And one of the prosecution's star witnesses will be Dave Halls. Dave Halls was the first assistant director who was supposed to check the gun's cylinder to ensure it was safe.

He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge related to his negligence. She opened up the latch to the revolver. I recall seeing three to four what I believe to be dummy rounds. I had seen the dummy rounds before. But sir, let me ask you, you indicated that you only saw three or four, you didn't see six? I don't recall her fully rotating the cylinder. Okay. You don't recall her fully rotating it? I do not. Okay. And even though the cylinder wasn't fully rotated, did you let that safety check sort of pass? I did.

Halls testified that Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer, handed Alec Baldwin the gun and then explained what he said happened after that. She took a few steps to Mr. Baldwin and gave Ms. Baldwin the gun and then explained what he said happened after that. She took a few steps to Mr. Baldwin and gave Ms. Baldwin the gun. Okay. To the best of your recollection, Ms. Gutierrez hands the gun to Mr. Baldwin. Walk us through what happens after that. The revolver is placed, Mr. Baldwin had a holster that the gun was basically at his chest. And his action was to take the gun out and point it at the two U.S. Marshals. And he was just pulling it out. I'm sure he was getting used to that action.

He was in communication with Ms. Hutchins about where to point the gun. Do you recall, sir, was Mr. Souza also in the room? He was. Was Mr. Souza also participating in how to set up this shot, do you recall? No, I just recall that it was communication between Mr. Baldwin and Helena. Okay. And then what happened? The gun went off. Halls will likely be grilled by Alec Baldwin's defense team about his version of events and his handling of that firearm. After you admittedly do an improper check of the firearm, isn't it true that you handed that firearm to Mr. Baldwin?

It's not true. Do you know that your account conflicts with Mr. Baldwin's? I am aware of that. And do you know that it conflicts with Ms. Gutierrez-Reed? I am aware of that, but I, however, in Mr. Baldwin's initial statement with Detective Hancock, hours, a few hours after the incident on October 21st, when asked the question who handed him the gun, he said Hannah did, like she always did. And after that, he changed and said you had handed

it to him, right? Yes. Other eyewitnesses will also testify, like Ross Adiego. I think Joel and Joel, the director and Alec had some brief conversation back and forth about what the goal was for that shot. And, and I think Alec had drawn it once to kind of audition what what he thought his action should be for Joel. And then he drew it again, and it went off. And, you know, instantly, I mean, a firearm went off in a small wooden church. So the concussion, ears ringing, that moment of panic in everybody. I think the first person I made eye contact with was Selena, who was clearly injured by whatever that gunshot was, that noise we had just heard. And in fact, she was starting to go flush and I think holding her right side. And then I think that Joel let out some sort of scream

or made some noise that, you know, to indicate he was also injured. And I think I just went to, my attention went to Joel because he was the closest to me. I think Reed, I recall Reed and Serge moving Pew out of the way to help Helena get to basically to lay Helena down and start t attending to Joel. I think I yelled out that if you can't help us, get the f*** out of here. And someone called 911. And of course, Director Joel Souza, who was also wounded, will also take the stand. Okay, so explain to us when you're going into the church and why and what you do and what happens. So I went inside, again, to try to see what the angle was. There were a lot of voices. I heard Alec's voice. I heard Helena's voice.

Everyone sort of talking at once. I don't have a clear memory of how long I was standing behind her. I know I got up behind her just to try to see on the monitor, and there was an incredibly loud bang that was not like the half and quarter loads you hear on a set.

Those are sort of, they're loud poofs and pops. This was deafening. And I, it felt like somebody had taken a baseball bat to my shoulder. I remember that distinctly and sort of stumbling back and shouting.

I don't remember exactly what I said. Were you able to see Ms. Hutchins at that time? I did. And I remember sort of stumbling back and I either fell to my knees or I was sitting. And I distinctly remember her being lowered to the ground. People had her sort of by either side. And I still didn't quite know what had happened. Nothing made sense. I remember initially thinking, had she been startled by it?

And they were sitting her down as a result, and then I saw the blood on her back. And to the best of your recollection, what happened after that? It got very chaotic. I remember them laying me down. I remember them laying her down next to me. Although we were sort of facing in opposite directions, my head was that way. I remember a lot of panic. I still just couldn't figure out what had happened. I just, I thought, was there something that had been stuck in the barrel that came out? But just nothing made sense. But really the big question is, will armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed testify? She's on both sides' witness list, and Gutierrez-Reed has indicated she would not cooperate with the prosecution. But there's an order to transport her from the women's prison in New Mexico to the county jail in Santa Fe for the trial.

So is she going to testify? Is something being worked out behind the scenes that we don't know about? Gutierrez-Reed is asking to be released immediately from prison, and she's asking for a new trial, claiming she was denied a fair trial when a final firearms expert report wasn't turned over to her defense team. In watching the arguments and reading the documents, you can really tell that there is no love lost between the prosecution and the defense teams in this case. In fact, some of that contention seems to stem from things that happened when the special prosecutor says she offered Alec Baldwin a plea deal in this case. That plea deal would not have required Alec Baldwin to serve one day in jail. Special Prosecutor Carrie Morrissey said she believed Alec Baldwin was going to accept that plea deal,

but as a distraction, he was going to file a lawsuit on the same day he pleaded guilty against the first prosecution team. Morrissey said in an April court filing that that did not cause her to retract the deal, even though she found the tactic distasteful. But Morrissey said she withdrew that plea offer after undersigned counsel received information that Mr. Baldwin commissioned his own documentary about the death of the woman he killed and was actively pressuring witnesses in the case to submit to interviews for his documentary. So that's some of what you can expect when the testimony in this case gets underway. I'm Anjanette Levy and that's it for this episode of Crime Fix from the courthouse here in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I'll see you back here next time.