Alec Baldwin’s trial in the shooting of a cinematographer is set to begin Tuesday with jury selection to decide whether the actor is guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
Being chosen to sit in the trial of such a major star accused of such a serious crime would be unusual even in Los Angeles or Baldwin’s hometown of New York. But it will be an essentially unheard-of experience for those chosen as jurors in Santa Fe, New Mexico, even though the state has increasingly become a Hollywood production hub in recent years.
Baldwin, 66, could face up to 18 months in prison if jurors unanimously decide he committed the crime when a revolver aimed at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza during a rehearsal for the Western film. Oxide in October 2021 at Bonanza Creek Ranch, about 18 miles (29 kilometers) from where the trial is taking place.
Baldwin said the gun accidentally went off after he followed instructions to point it at Hutchins, who was behind the camera. Unaware the gun contained live ammunition, Baldwin said he pulled the hammer, not the trigger, and fired.
The star of 30 Rock and The hunt for Red October made his first courtroom appearance Monday, when Judge Mary Marlowe Summer, in a significant victory for the defense, ruled at a pretrial hearing that Baldwin’s role as co-producer on Oxide It is not relevant to the trial.
The judge said the special circumstances of a celebrity trial should not prevent jury selection from happening quickly and that opening statements should begin Wednesday.
Breaking news from Canada and around the world delivered to your inbox, as it happens.
“I’m not worried about being able to pick a jury in one day,” Marlowe Summer said. “I think we’ll pick a jury in the afternoon.”
But special prosecutor Kari Morrissey had doubts that Baldwin’s lawyers, with whom she clashed in the run-up to the trial, would make that possible.
“I’m guessing with this group of defense attorneys that’s not going to happen,” Morrissey said at the hearing.
Baldwin’s attorney, Alex Spiro, responded: “I’ve never picked a jury in one day. I can’t imagine this is the first time.”
Dozens of potential jurors will be brought into the courtroom for questioning on Tuesday morning. Cameras recording the rest of the proceedings will be turned off to protect their privacy. Jurors are expected to receive their case after a nine-day trial.
Attorneys will be able to request the dismissal of jurors for conflicts of interest or other reasons. The defense, under state law, can dismiss up to five jurors without giving a reason and the prosecution, three. More challenges will be allowed when the four alternates are chosen.
Before Marlowe Sommer’s ruling on Monday, prosecutors had hoped to highlight Baldwin’s on-set safety obligations as a co-producer to bolster an alternative theory of culpability beyond his alleged negligent use of a firearm. Their goal was to link Baldwin’s conduct to “complete disregard or indifference to the safety of others” under the involuntary manslaughter law.
But prosecutors scored other victories Monday. They successfully argued to exclude summary findings from a state workplace safety investigation that placed much of the blame on the film’s assistant director, shifting blame away from Baldwin.
And the judge ruled they could show graphic images from Hutchins’ autopsy and from police lapel cameras during the treatment of his injuries.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
