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Tuesday, September 27, 2022
District Attorney: Alec Baldwin May Be Charged in Rust Shooting
consequence.net: Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies has signaled that Alec Baldwin may soon face charges for his role in the accidental shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the Western film, Rust.
5 comments:
Akshatha
said...
It is very interesting the way the news is coming out about these charges and the shooting. I think this will be a pretty difficult case for the DAs to win as there are multiple layers they will have to prove for guilt. I do think it is interesting and probably a good move that they are looking in Alec Baldwin as a producer and his role in making an unsafe work place that led to this accident rather than an actor who pulled the trigger. They biggest question is how there was a live round within the gun in the first place. On top of that there are protocols that were not followed and the gun was kept in a poor condition, both of which could have also led to the accident. The people who handle the guns and the leadership that ensures that policies even have time to get followed are at fault and Baldwin as a producer clearly did more harm here than Baldwin as an actor. I am interested to see the case unfold and see who the DA actually ends up charging.
Keeping up with the news about this unfortunate event has been interesting. One of my distant family members is a Props Master for Hollywood and works very closely with prop guns and the handling of them. I’ve read his perspective on this shooting in a few articles, and I completely agree with him on these points. This was a malpractice of safety. The people who were in charge of making sure those were blanks and that the guns were safe should be completely held accountable. Especially since they had a history of safety issues. It was mostly an accident on Alec Baldwin’s part, but hearing that he’s a producer for that film and that his crew staged a walkout earlier in the day over unsafe working conditions, he should be held accountable as well. I think this was a wakeup call in the entertainment industry to take safety seriously.
This article feels a little sparse on details. They said that they are hoping to spend a half million dollars on prosecuting a preventable accident. Baldwin is in a weird place because not only is he the one who shot the gun, but he was also a producer on the film - potentially making him liable for a couple of different reasons. Assuming there was no intent for harm (which I don’t believe any agency has publicly said they think) it seems like more of a civil case because shortcuts were taken and an inappropriate person was hired as an armorer. Not to mention that other safety concerns had been made about the company and it seemed like a dangerous work environment. That cutting of corners and using non-union labor is the risk you take when there’s no expectation about experience or certifications. I had not heard that the armorer “believed” it was a blank round because that further shows how incompetent they were.
I’ve been wondering what was going to happen with this, and who was going to be charged. I’m glad the to see the prosecutor is differentiating between Alec Baldwin as the actor firing the gun, and Alec Baldwin as a producer for a production that has already experienced a crew walk out due to safety concerns. I have the feeling when this case goes to trial it won’t just focus on the shooting but all the other safety concerns that were happening on set, and how these led up to this tragic incident. The fact that steps were skipped during the handling of the gun is gross and negligent. I truly hope that Halyna Hutchin’s family gets justice, for the loss of their loved one, both in criminal case and in the civil suit they are filing. Incidents like this are part of the many reasons I despise using blank-firing guns onstage and try to avoid using them at all costs.
Not that I think the whole thing isn’t an unfortunate accident—but I think Baldwin will be charged no matter what with at least SOMETHING seeing that he was the producer of the show and actually shot the director. The armorer is also in deep waters for loading it with real amo because they are in charge of handling and making sure weapons are safe. To me it’s more like legally, Baldwin committed accidental manslaughter, but when it comes to who’s fault the weapon in question killed a person is on the armorer. I mean there’s also the issue of knowing exactly what happened because nobody seems to know and the stories don’t all quite line up which makes it seemingly impossible to come to a conclusion on. Personally I don’t really care how it ends and if Baldwin gets charged aside form the potential jail time he’s wealthy and can probably weasel his way out of it compared to a lower position in staff celebrity/industry rank wise were they to be convicted instead.
5 comments:
It is very interesting the way the news is coming out about these charges and the shooting. I think this will be a pretty difficult case for the DAs to win as there are multiple layers they will have to prove for guilt. I do think it is interesting and probably a good move that they are looking in Alec Baldwin as a producer and his role in making an unsafe work place that led to this accident rather than an actor who pulled the trigger. They biggest question is how there was a live round within the gun in the first place. On top of that there are protocols that were not followed and the gun was kept in a poor condition, both of which could have also led to the accident. The people who handle the guns and the leadership that ensures that policies even have time to get followed are at fault and Baldwin as a producer clearly did more harm here than Baldwin as an actor. I am interested to see the case unfold and see who the DA actually ends up charging.
Keeping up with the news about this unfortunate event has been interesting. One of my distant family members is a Props Master for Hollywood and works very closely with prop guns and the handling of them. I’ve read his perspective on this shooting in a few articles, and I completely agree with him on these points. This was a malpractice of safety. The people who were in charge of making sure those were blanks and that the guns were safe should be completely held accountable. Especially since they had a history of safety issues. It was mostly an accident on Alec Baldwin’s part, but hearing that he’s a producer for that film and that his crew staged a walkout earlier in the day over unsafe working conditions, he should be held accountable as well. I think this was a wakeup call in the entertainment industry to take safety seriously.
This article feels a little sparse on details. They said that they are hoping to spend a half million dollars on prosecuting a preventable accident. Baldwin is in a weird place because not only is he the one who shot the gun, but he was also a producer on the film - potentially making him liable for a couple of different reasons. Assuming there was no intent for harm (which I don’t believe any agency has publicly said they think) it seems like more of a civil case because shortcuts were taken and an inappropriate person was hired as an armorer. Not to mention that other safety concerns had been made about the company and it seemed like a dangerous work environment. That cutting of corners and using non-union labor is the risk you take when there’s no expectation about experience or certifications. I had not heard that the armorer “believed” it was a blank round because that further shows how incompetent they were.
I’ve been wondering what was going to happen with this, and who was going to be charged. I’m glad the to see the prosecutor is differentiating between Alec Baldwin as the actor firing the gun, and Alec Baldwin as a producer for a production that has already experienced a crew walk out due to safety concerns. I have the feeling when this case goes to trial it won’t just focus on the shooting but all the other safety concerns that were happening on set, and how these led up to this tragic incident. The fact that steps were skipped during the handling of the gun is gross and negligent. I truly hope that Halyna Hutchin’s family gets justice, for the loss of their loved one, both in criminal case and in the civil suit they are filing. Incidents like this are part of the many reasons I despise using blank-firing guns onstage and try to avoid using them at all costs.
Not that I think the whole thing isn’t an unfortunate accident—but I think Baldwin will be charged no matter what with at least SOMETHING seeing that he was the producer of the show and actually shot the director. The armorer is also in deep waters for loading it with real amo because they are in charge of handling and making sure weapons are safe. To me it’s more like legally, Baldwin committed accidental manslaughter, but when it comes to who’s fault the weapon in question killed a person is on the armorer. I mean there’s also the issue of knowing exactly what happened because nobody seems to know and the stories don’t all quite line up which makes it seemingly impossible to come to a conclusion on. Personally I don’t really care how it ends and if Baldwin gets charged aside form the potential jail time he’s wealthy and can probably weasel his way out of it compared to a lower position in staff celebrity/industry rank wise were they to be convicted instead.
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