SANTA FE, New Mexico — The inner workings of a Colt .45 “Peacemaker” revolver, a symbol of the American Wild West, have become the focus of Alec Baldwin’s trial for the 2021 fatal shooting of “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on a New Mexico movie set. Jury selection was set to begin on Tuesday nearly three years after Baldwin was directed to point his gun at Hutchins as she set up a camera shot inside a movie-set church about 20 miles southwest of Santa Fe.
Hutchin’s 2021 death was Hollywood’s first on-set shooting fatality in three decades and momentarily sparked calls to end the widespread use of real firearms on movie sets. Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter trial in a modern, brown-stucco courthouse in downtown Santa Fe is expected to last eight days and run to July 19. It is remarkable in that there is little or no precedent in U.
S. history for an actor to face criminal prosecution for an on-set shooting death. The “30 Rock” actor could be imprisoned for up to 18 months if found guilty.
In March, “Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez, the set employee in charge of firearm safety, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter by a Santa Fe, New Mexico, jury for mistakenly loading a live round into Baldwin’s gun. Gutierrez received the maximum 18-month sentence. Legal analysts and firearms specialists had long expected Baldwin’s case to hinge on whether he should have inspected the gun after he was told it was “cold,” an industry term meani.
