Alec Baldwin’s manslaughter trial for ‘Rust’ fatal shooting will begin in July

The judge in the Rust case has set Alec Baldwin’s trial for Tuesday, July 9. That’s when the actor and producer will finally face the U.S. justice system. Baldwin is charged with involuntary manslaughter stemming from the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was accidentally shot in October 2021. This trial is the culmination of the judicial journey faced by the main parties involved in the fatal shooting. If convicted, Baldwin could be sentenced to between 18 months and three years in prison, in addition to several thousand dollars in fines.

The actor pleaded not guilty in January, one day before he was summoned by the New Mexico court handling the trial. It is the second time that Baldwin has been accused of involuntary manslaughter for the death of Hutchins. The first time was in January 2023. However, the prosecutors in the case withdrew the charges weeks later when they learned that the revolver that the performer held in rehearsal during the accident had been modified. This year, however, a grand jury found enough evidence for the criminal charge to be refiled.

Alex Spiro, one of Baldwin’s lawyers, had asked the court to quickly set a trial date. “Mr. Baldwin has been dealing with this for several years,” the lawyer argued at a hearing last week. Spiro wanted the trial to start on June 13, but one of the prosecutors, Kari Morrissey, said she would be busy on those dates. Judge Mary Marlow Sommer has set the start of the trial for Tuesday, July 9, when the jury will be selected. The trial is set to last until July 19.

Baldwin’s defense will spend the next few months narrowing down the charge against their client. Prosecutors are also seeking to hold Baldwin accountable in his capacity as producer for failures in safety protocols and violations of state workplace safety regulations. The New Mexico workplace accident agency fined the production $100,000 for the deadly failures, but also concluded that Baldwin did not have the necessary authority on set to correct the issues.

Spiro wants this portion of the case thrown out before July. “There is a theory that by being the creative producer, he also has criminal liability,” the lawyer said last week. “We don’t think that will withstand scrutiny.”

The actor has always denied pulling the trigger of the .45 Colt revolver that fired the bullet that killed Hutchins. This is despite the fact that the FBI and independent experts both concluded that the trigger had to have been pulled.

The production’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez Reed, is currently on trial. She is accused of accidentally putting a real bullet in the revolver chamber. Her attorney, Jason Bowles, blamed Baldwin in his opening statements on February 22. “From a young age, we all learn you don’t point a gun at somebody, ever, unless you want to shoot them. You treat all guns as loaded, and you keep your finger out of the trigger until you’re ready to shoot. He violated all of those. It wasn’t Ms. Gutierrez-Reed, it was Mr. Baldwin,” Bowles said.

The prosecutor, Jason Lewis, on the other hand, argued that the defendant had been careless in ensuring the security of the weapons and ammunition.

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