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submitted 7 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

Grand jury in New Mexico charged the actor for a shooting on Rust set that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins

Actor Alec Baldwin is facing a new involuntary manslaughter charge over the 2021 fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of the movie Rust.

A Santa Fe, New Mexico, grand jury indicted Baldwin on Friday, months after prosecutors had dismissed the same criminal charge against him.

During an October 2021 rehearsal on the set of Rust, a western drama, Baldwin was pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins when it went off, fatally striking her and wounding Joel Souza, the film’s director.

Baldwin, a co-producer and star of the film, has said he did not pull the trigger, but pulled back the hammer of the gun before it fired.

Last April, special prosecutors dismissed the involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin, saying the firearm might have been modified prior to the shooting and malfunctioned and that forensic analysis was warranted. But in August, prosecutors said they were considering re-filing the charges after a new analysis of the weapon was completed.

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[-] lennybird@lemmy.world 138 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Lowest bidder aside, how is this clearly not the armorer's fault front and center? It was her responsibility to handle the set props. What Baldwin paid them is irrelevant to what she claimed she could provide and was obligated to provide under contract.

She is literally the one to (a) claim the firearm was safe, but (b) load it with live ammunition.

???

[-] CptEnder@lemmy.world 106 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Work in the industry, doc side but this is pretty basic producer stuff. This is 100% on the armorer and the only reason they keep trying to charge Baldwin is the legal grey area of the state they filmed in. Had this happened in a state with more production (Georgia, Louisiana, California) there would be a more direct way for prosecutors to go after the correct person. Georgia and California specifically has legal precedent from deaths on set like this.

One of the reasons credits are so long is because we hire people to maintain a safe set - think of it like a foreman for safe worksite in construction (which we also hire often). We hire a ton of people for safety from actual police to medics and rescue personnel.

Hiring an armorer is SPECIFICALLY to avoid situations like this. Because the production company is like "hey you know what? I don't think me, some producer knows how to use a gun safely, I should hire someone who's certified to do that." It's not some token job, they're supposed to be trained on how to properly load the powder of the blank rounds, how to mark and flag hot guns and dead props, and pretty fucking much rule #1A is never bring live ammo anywhere near your set.

Baldwin should not be held criminally liable and any half decent entertainment lawyer will settle that. Now civil liability, that's certainly more realistic. But even then it should be the production LLC not any 1 person.

[-] lennybird@lemmy.world 7 points 7 months ago

In your experience, have you ever seen the responsibility of set prop safety fall on the producer and not be delegated to someone else? Based on what you write here, I assume not which would confirm my initial belief.

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[-] negativeyoda@lemmy.world 19 points 7 months ago

An article I read right after this happened (which very well could have been a hit piece) said she (the armorer) was in her early 20s and would fuck around and go shooting with the prop guns when filming wasn't happening. So... kind of. Yes

Sounds like there's lots of blame to go around

[-] Kalkaline@lemmy.zip 9 points 7 months ago

She's guilty, he probably has some liability being the producer.

[-] DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe 30 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

He was far from the only producer. Quite frankly I doubt very much he did any real work besides acting.

The liability belongs to the company as a whole, absent some slam dunk of a memo where Baldwin personally said "Hire this lady, she's my cousin's kid, also I personally know she falsified her credentials but fuck it."

[-] thefartographer@lemm.ee 7 points 7 months ago

It's essentially a question of "who's in charge around here and whose ass will be on the line?" Nearest example I can think of is if your boss tells you to deliver something and you get into a car accident, your work covers you with their insurance (USA!)

Even more concisely summed up with an incredibly apropos phrase, "if you give a monkey a gun, you don't get to blame the monkey when someone gets shot."

[-] Illuminostro@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago

It is, but groveling, weak sycophants hate Baldwin for mocking their traitor god.

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this post was submitted on 19 Jan 2024
339 points (95.7% liked)

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