Jurors can hear Alec Baldwin making calls to get his wife and kids to join him in New Mexico for family vacation after 'Rust' shooting, judge rules.
from hearing the possibly damaging private phone calls he made to his wife Hilaria and an assistant just hours after the accidental shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the western movieon October 21, 2021, the actor is heard asking Hilaria and the assistant about the family’s plans to join him in New Mexico.
Baldwin alludes to how the couple’s eldest daughter Carmen was due to film a cameo for the movie and says the family should still make the trip because their travel plans were non-refundable. With the film’s production on hold due to the accident, Baldwin is heard saying, “I won’t work, and we’ll go enjoy ourselves.” At the time of the call, Baldwin had not yet been informed Hutchins was dead. “He is at the police station. He does not know Ms. Hutchins has passed, but he knows she is critically injured — so injured she has been taken away in a helicopter. If the defense hadn’t spent all this time saying how panicked and upset he was, I’m not sure it would be relevant. But he is actually planning, basically, a vacation, and he tells his family, ‘Still come to New Mexico, we’ll have a good time.’ So, this is obviously information that directly contradicts what the defense has argued,” special prosecutor Kari Morrissey told the court Thursday as she argued for the calls to be admitted into evidence. One of Baldwin’s lawyers argued the calls were too potentially prejudicial for jurors to hear. “None of this is probative to any elements of crime he’s charged with,” lawyer Heather M. LeBlanc told the court. “The danger of unfair prejudice is substantial, and it substantially outweighs any probative value. He’s talking about his family, he’s talking about plans they have, and there’s danger the jury will misinterpret that or misuse that to view him as callous, or that he doesn’t care about Ms. Hutchins, when actually that is not accurate.”New Mexico Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer ultimately sided with prosecutors, saying Baldwin’s defense opened the door to his state of mind after the shooting by portraying him as distraught during cross-examination of a Santa Fe Police Department officer on Wednesday. “I do find that it’s relevant to basically respond to talking about how upset Mr. Baldwin was,” the judge said as she issued her ruling allowing the calls. “Certainly you considered that fact of consequence, and I’m deciding this rebuttal information is of consequence.”didn’t pull the trigger on the replica revolver that fired the deadly shot and was deprived of the opportunity to check the weapon for damage or modification because theset were the ones responsible for gun safety and that he had no reason to suspect his prop weapon had been loaded with a live .45 caliber round after the movie’s first assistant director checked and declared it a “cold gun,” meaning it contained only inert, dummy rounds. For their part, prosecutors allege that Baldwin should have checked the gun himself, and because he didn’t, he was obligated to still follow the basic safety rules for handling a real firearm. They argue Baldwin never should have pointed the revolver at Hutchins while manipulating it, and they believe Baldwin is lying about not pulling the trigger.Trey Anastasio on Turning 60 and the Song He Wants to Play at the End of Phish's Final ConcertIn his opening statement on Wednesday, Baldwin’s lawyer Alex Spiro argued that even if Baldwin did pull the trigger, that only makes him a “liar,” not liable for manslaughter. “It was obviously a tragic accident, but Alec committed no homicide,” Spiro said. “Alec took the gun from those charged with its safety. He did not tamper with it. He did not load it himself. He did not leave it unattended. …There was a dedicated professional there, off-camera, whose sole, sacred responsibility was that prop’s safety.”Shelley Duvall, Robert Altman Protege and Tormented Wife in 'The Shining,' Dies at 75 Lena Dunham Exits 'Polly Pocket' Film, Says She's Not the Star of Her Netflix Show Because 'I Was Not Up for Having My Body Dissected Again' After 'Girls'
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