Jury selection is scheduled to begin Tuesday for Alec Baldwin's manslaughter trial in connection with the 2021 fatal shooting of a crew member on the set of "Rust" in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The actor was practicing a cross-draw in a church on the set of the Western film when the Colt .45 revolver fired a live round, fatally striking 42-year-old cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
Baldwin, 66, who was also a producer on the film, was indicted by a grand jury on involuntary manslaughter in connection with Hutchins' death earlier this year, after prosecutors previously dropped the charge. He pleaded not guilty. Jury selection is expected to last one day, with the trial scheduled through July 19.
Lawyers Alex Spiro, from left, actor Alec Baldwin, Luke Nikas and Heather LeBlanc participate in a pretrial hearing in Santa Fe, N.M., on Monday, July 8, 2024.
AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, Pool Baldwin has maintained that he did not pull the trigger of the firearm, though the FBI's forensic report determined the gun could not have been fired without pulling the trigger. Prosecutors were seeking to argue during the trial that Baldwin bore responsibility as a producer for unsafe conditions on the set.
However, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommers ruled against prosecutors during an evidence hearing on Monday. In arguments prior to her ruling, defense attorney Luke Nikas said that claiming Baldwin was liable for the on-set shooting death because he was reckless in his role as a producer was "far more preju.
