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A jury of 12 people has been seated to decide whether Hollywood actor Alec Baldwin is guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the Rust movie set shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
Baldwin, 66, whose trial started Tuesday in Santa Fe, New Mexico, could get up to 18 months in prison if jurors unanimously convict him, according to The Associated Press.
The trial comes after the movie’s armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in April and sentenced to 18 months in prison.
The panel will decide whether or not Baldwin committed the felony when, during a rehearsal in October 2021, a revolver went off while he was pointing it at Hutchins, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza.
The fatal incident took place on the set of the Western film at Bonanza Creek Ranch, just 18 miles from where the trial is being held.
On Monday, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer decided that Baldwin’s role as a producer on the film isn’t relevant to the trial – a win for the defense but a major setback for prosecutors.
The former star of 30 Rock and The Hunt for Red October and his wife Hilaria arrived at the courthouse on Tuesday morning with their youngest child, Ilaria Catalina Irena Baldwin, for jury selection. The couple has seven children, ranging in age from 1 to 10.
Opening statements are expected to begin on Wednesday and the judge has said the case could be in the jury’s hands after just nine days of testimony.
Baldwin has claimed that the gun fired accidentally after he followed instructions to point it toward Hutchins, who was behind the camera. Unaware that the gun contained a live round, Baldwin said he pulled back the hammer — not the trigger — and it fired.
Before Marlowe Sommer’s ruling Monday, prosecutors had hoped to highlight Baldwin’s safety obligations on the set as co-producer to bolster an alternative theory of guilt beyond his alleged negligent use of a firearm.
They aimed to link Baldwin’s behavior to “total disregard or indifference for the safety of others” under the involuntary manslaughter law.
But the prosecution managed other wins on Monday.
They successfully argued for the exclusion of summary findings from a state workplace safety investigation that placed much of the blame on the film’s assistant director, shifting fault away from Baldwin.
The judge also ruled that they could show graphic images from Hutchins’ autopsy, and from police lapel cameras during the treatment of her injuries.
Nearly 80 prospective jurors were shuffled into the courtroom for questioning Tuesday morning. Notable attendees Tuesday included Stephen Baldwin, “The Usual Suspects” actor.
