Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Alec Baldwin Trial: 'Rust' Shooting Victim's Family Attorney Demands 'Justice for Halyna'

Episode Date: July 8, 2024

Halyna Hutchins was the talented cinematographer who was killed on the set of “Rust” in 2021 when a gun held by actor Alec Baldwin fired. Baldwin faces an involuntary manslaughter charge in Hutchins death but maintains he never pulled the gun’s trigger. Hutchins’ family in Ukraine is suing Baldwin and others over her death. Law&Crime’s Angenette Levy talks with victims’ rights attorney Gloria Allred about Hutchins’ family’s search for the truth in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:Get 50% off of confidential background reports at https://www.truthfinder.com/lccrimefix and access information about almost anyone!Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guests:Kayla Bumpus https://www.youtube.com/@attorneykaybDarryl Cohen  https://x.com/DarrylBCohenCRIME 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 has never even called the mother or the father or the sister to say, I'm sorry. Oh, good. Never did that. The lawyer for Helena Hutchinson's family hopes Alec Baldwin's trial will reveal the truth about what led to her death on the set of Rust. All they want is the truth about what happened and they want justice for Helena. Gloria Allred is here with Helena's family search for answers and justice as we take a closer look at the woman who lost her life

on the movie set. I'm Anjanette Levy, and this is Crime Fix. Helena Hutchins was a young, talented cinematographer with a bright future ahead of her when she was killed on the set of Rust in October of 2021. While she had film credits like 2020's The Mad Hatter on her resume, she was more than that. She was a mother, a wife, daughter, and a sister. She had a family who loved her. Helena's obituary says she grew up in the Soviet Union and studied journalism and worked on investigative films until she made the move to Hollywood to pursue a career in movies. Hutchinson's obituary quoted an interview she gave to American Cinematographer

in 2019 in which she said, My transition from journalism began when I was working on British film productions in Eastern Europe, traveling with crews to remote locations and seeing how the cinematographer worked. I was fascinated with storytelling based on real characters. directors. Hutchins posted that video of herself riding a horse two days before she died on the set of Rust. It was the last thing she would ever post on her Instagram account. Two days later, Hutchins and director Joel Souza were setting up a shot in a small wooden church at the Medanza Ranch. Alec Baldwin was in the church sitting in a pew. Russ director Joel Souza

testified about what happened when he and Helena Hutchins were shot. 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 see

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 I don't have a clear memory of how long I was standing behind her

I know I got up behind her to 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 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. 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 me down. I remember them laying her down next to me. Although we were sort of facing in opposite directions, my head was this way, her head was that way. I remember a lot of panic. That testimony came during the trial of armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed. She was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and is now serving an 18-month prison sentence. I would not presume to speak for Helena nor for her husband or her son,

for her parents or her sister, but I would like to say something on their behalf if I might. Helena's parents lost their daughter. Her sister lost a sibling and confidant. Matt lost his wife, the other half of himself. And Helena's son lost not only his mother, but everything she had to offer him for the rest of her life. Every kind word, every loving gesture, every support, every influence, every life's lesson. The course of his life has been irrevocably altered. And the world lost not only a person that was a gifted artist but a truly kind and compassionate person which often seemed to be in short supply

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of confidential background reports. Just log on to www.truthfinder.com slash lccrimefix, log on, and start accessing information about almost anyone. Joining me is famed attorney Gloria Allred. She represents the family of Helena Hutchins. Most of them are in Ukraine. Gloria, thanks so much for coming on. How is Helena's family doing? Well, the family that we represent is her mother, Olga, her father, Antoli, and her sister Svetlana. And they all live in Ukraine, as you mentioned, in Kiev.

Of course, they're living in a war zone because of Putin's war against Ukraine. And, you know, they have to deal with that. The mother is a nurse that previously was caring for those who were wounded from the war. Her sister, Helena's sister, had had an infant and another older child and her husband has been a war away. And the father, it's a very painful experience for him and everybody else in the family to suffer this loss. He thought that when she came to the United States, she would be safer than she would be in Ukraine. Obviously, that did not turn out to be the case. So they all would like to know who is responsible for Helena's untimely death, we know that the jury found that Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was guilty of involuntary

manslaughter and now comes the trial of Alec Baldwin. The family feels that everyone who is responsible for Helena's death should have to face the consequences. So we'll have to see what the jury decides about whether or not Alec Baldwin is criminally responsible or not. Gloria Allred is representing Helena Hutchinson's mother, father, and sister in a civil suit. This is different from the suit that Helena's husband, Matt Hutchins, filed and settled against Alec Baldwin and others. The suit filed by Helena's family was moved from California to New Mexico last month. The family, because they live in a country at war, will not be able to attend the trial, so Gloria Allred will attend to represent them. The key question in the criminal case is, is Alec Baldwin guilty of involuntary manslaughter as well? Now, here's what we know. We know that he has denied in the

interview with ABC television, George Stephanopoulos, he denied pulling the trigger. That denial was heard by the FBI. They were given custody of the gun that he had in his hand, the same gun that he said he did not pull the trigger on, that he just cocked the gun for an accidental discharge. Originally, they were given the gun to test for DNA. Local authorities gave them the permission to test the gun for the accidental discharge. Their goal was to see, could the gun go off without pulling the trigger? And they tested it, and they tested it, and they couldn't get it to go off without the trigger being pulled. Ultimately, they took a mallet, a big mallet, and they hit the gun with the mallet, and that's when it went off. But short of hitting it hard with a mallet,

they couldn't have the gun discharged without pulling the trigger. That Colt 45 revolver was destroyed during the accidental discharge testing. The FBI knew that could happen and so did the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office. Alec Baldwin lost emotion asking that his case be dismissed since he couldn't have an expert test the gun. Now, their next argument is, well, then the prosecution expert should not be allowed to testify because of what they allege happened to the gun. And we'll have to see what the judge decides about that and that decision has not yet been made by the judge but there are many many other issues and disputes now for example Alec Baldwin alleges through his defense that he would never point a gun directly at anyone and pull the trigger. The prosecution argues

that's not true. It's contradicted by the evidence that they have evidence that on that set Alec Baldwin actually pointed a gun at someone. Fortunately there were blanks in the gun. He aimed at someone and he pulled the trigger. They also alleged the prosecution that there are many times that he pulled the trigger, even after someone yelled cut. In other words, the scene ended and he still pulled the trigger. There are hours and hours of footage from the Russ set showing Alec Baldwin handling guns. Well, let me show you something. Hold on. Step back to your original mark. So one 1,000, two 1,000, three, I'm getting up. Then when he drops his arm, Helena, get out of

it. He drops his arm. That means Brady's close. I'm going to start to really get up. Yeah, there's video. I'm using the revolver almost as a pointer, giving direction to people. Exactly. Now, of course, he alleges that Helena said, I'm paraphrasing, that he should point the gun at her. And he says, well, he pointed it at the camera camera but it appears that she was holding the camera so in any event to me that's attacking the victim who could not defend herself because she was killed by that gun which she was holding and he knows that obviously she's dead and can't respond but whether or not she ever said that, and I don't know what the evidence is going to prove, all of the individuals who are gun experts and who are familiar with safety protocols, all of them that I've spoken to, or perhaps the prosecution has spoken to, I don't know who the prosecution has spoken to,

would say that you never point a gun directly at someone and pull the trigger, unless you intend to kill that person. And that's why a gun is a deadly weapon, potentially. You should never point a gun at anyone. Of course, there are many other arguments as well. And so it's going to be a very interesting and important trial to see what the evidence is going to prove. Alec Baldwin faces an involuntary manslaughter charge in Helena Hutchinson's death. The prosecution will have to prove that Baldwin was either negligent when handling the gun or that he failed to exercise circumspection or due care,

meaning an ordinary person would know their actions could result in a death. In reference to safety protocols and safety meeting, that they can prove that at the time of the safety meeting he was distracted by texting his family and reviewing videos of his family while the safety training was happening and we'll see what the defense has to say about that and they allege the fact that, as the prosecution does, that Dave Hall's assistant director yelled out that it was a cold gun and he relied on that. That is something we don't know whether Dave Hall's will say that. In fact, he said that or not. Dave Hall's did plead to involuntary manslaughter himself and but it's likely that he will testify at the trial and

we'll see what he has to say but in any event the fact is that alec baldwin the prosecution will ledge had many years of experience and knowledge of the correct handling of a gun, that it needed to be given to him by the armorer, and that the armorer has a duty to show him the chambers in the gun to know that there are no live bullets in the gun. When he was first interviewed by the sheriff, it appears that, or it's reported that, he told the sheriff that the gun was handed to him by Hannah, not by Dave Halls. Why did he say that?

I don't know. What's the truth? Who handed him the gun? Again, we'll have to find that out at the trial. That also raises the question about whether Alec Baldwin will testify. He's made different statements about who handed him the gun that day that only he can answer. He has the constitutional right to assert and invoke his fifth amendment privilege against self-incrimination he could of course wave and give that up that privilege of self-incrimination and testify

there might be a benefit to him to testify on the other hand it does carry certain risks, and generally his defense attorneys would likely advise him not to testify. But, of course, whether he testifies or not is his decision. He can make that decision, and all the attorneys can do is advise him not to, if in fact that is their advice. But he can decide that he wants to testify anyway. So we'll have to wait and see. Yes, you're right. said previously and what the prosecution's evidence might show he likely has to or his defense has to in some way rebut the videos maybe there are other videos maybe there are witnesses that he could present that somehow challenges the videos that the prosecution alleges they have we'll have to wait and see

whether he testifies and whether he has evidence to rebut whatever the prosecution is going to present i don't think it was wise of him from a strategic point of view to do the interviews he did which will now be used against him. Yeah, most defendants don't. I mean, he gave a police interview, which a lot of defendants do. But then he did basically an hour-long special, maybe even longer, with George Stephanopoulos. I mean, it's on YouTube. So he made lengthy statements about what happened and admitted to having firearms training in the past on many movies. I mean, he's been in the business for more than 40 years now.

Exactly. Is there anything about Helena that her family would like people to know about her? I mean, we know her name and we know her face from this awful tragedy but she she was she was a daughter she was a mother she was a sister she was a wife is there anything they've told you about her that they would like people to know to really remember her and honor her memory well first that they had a very close relationship with her, even though they were thousands of miles away. They communicated with her and she communicated with them frequently.

So it was especially hurtful to them to know that Alec Baldwin had the gun in his hand, which ultimately killed Helena. But in addition, his attorneys filed a demur with the court in Los Angeles and alleged that her parents and her sister did not have a close relationship with her, that they were distant from her. And that was not the truth. And we have a witness who will testify in the civil case about the close relationship they had with her. So that was hurtful. The mother is sitting there in Ukraine. She traveled through four countries to come to the cemetery on the anniversary of Helena's

death. I was there with her at the cemetery. And she placed flowers on her daughter's grave and she wanted to honor her and that's why she traveled previously to this country even during the war to honor and remember her daughter. And that no other member of the family was there that day. And it was very, very hard on her. So they've been through a lot. But to attack a grieving mother, a grieving father, a younger sister who was, she has said at the sentencing of Hannah Gutierrez that Elena was like a second mother to her because I think they were seven years apart. To attack this family I just think is so disrespectful.

Whether or not they had a right to do it in an argument, I just think it shouldn't have been done. And Alec Baldwin has never even called the mother or the father or the sister to say I'm sorry. Okay. Never did that even though I have been publicly urging him to do that for a long time. He knows that I represent the family. He knows his lawyers could contact me and get their phone number or their email or whatever they need to arrange a call. He's never done that. I mean, to me, it's, obviously legally he doesn't have a duty to do that.

But just I think it's a decent thing to do. He does, you know, he could have said, you know, I didn't pull the trigger to them or I'm sorry it was an accident. Whatever he's going to say in defense of himself. But he could say, I'm sorry that this happened. Never did that. He never did it. And I'm going to guess now that he's unlikely to do it in the future because he hasn't done it for all of the months that I have asked him to do it as a decent person. You know, he could have done it. The fact that we have a lawsuit against him wouldn't prevent him from

saying i'm sorry he obviously had some role in this even if it were an accidental discharge which of course the prosecution will allege that it wasn't he could still say i'm sorry it happened he hasn't done it did he authorize his lawyers to attack the family and say they were distanced from Helena? By the way, how would he even know that? He's never spoken to the family. And I have no doubt that Helena would never have said that because that would have been untrue. I really appreciate you joining me. I really do. And I look forward to seeing you out in Santa Fe. So I will see you joining me I really do and I look forward to seeing you out in Santa Fe so I will see you then

well thank you I just want to say that all they want is the truth about what happened and they want justice for Helena and it would be painful for them to hear all of the facts but I'm going to share with them because I will be in the courtroom.

And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.