When someone plays make believe with a real gun
in a real life workplace,
and while playing make believe with that gun
violates the cardinal rules of firearm safety,
people's lives are endangered and someone could be killed.
Ladies and gentlemen, that's what this case is about.
It's simple, straightforward.
The evidence will show that someone who played make believe
with a real gun
and violated the cardinal rules of firearm safety
is the defendant, Alexander Baldwin.
You will hear over the course of the next few
days
that in the fall of
2021 a movie called Rust
began filming at the Bonanza Creek Ranch just South of
Santa Fe
in Santa Fe County.
You will learn that this movie was a western with
a lot of gun action
and while it was a movie set,
it was a real life workplace for many people.
But you will hear this workplace was on a tight
budget.
And you will learn that some of the people who
were hired
to work at this workplace
were very inexperienced. And one of those
was the armorer, a very young woman
named Hannah Gutierrez Reed.
You will hear testimony from crew members who worked on
the set,
who will tell you
that to them, Miss Gutierrez's inexperience was obvious.
You will also learn that this workplace has some talented
people,
and one of those was the director of photography,
a vibrant 42 year old rising star named Helena Hutchins.
You will also learn that the director of this film
was Joel Souza, another talented individual who cares deeply
for his projects.
The evidence will show, ladies and gentlemen,
that like in many workplaces,
there are people who act in a reckless manner
and place other individuals in danger
and act without due regard for the safety of others.
That you will hear was the defendant
Alexander Baldwin, the lead actor
on this film.
You will learn that this movie began filming on or
about October
6th, 2021,
but the defendant did not arrive on set to begin
working until about October 13th.
And you will learn that prior to arriving on the
set to work,
he requested to be assigned
the biggest gun available.
So he was assigned this revolver,
a replica of an
1873 single action revolver manufactured by Pieta Firearms
in Italy.
You will hear from Alessandro Pieta
who will tell you he manufactured this gun
and he will tell you he manufactured it in
2015,
and he will explain the quality control measures that Pieta
Firearms
follows in order to ensure that firearms that are manufactured
by Pieta Firearms
don't have any problems or issues.
Mr. Pieta will tell you
that this firearm he himself manufactured
and that when Pieta sent it to EMF,
which is the company that distributes firearms for Pieta Firearms
in the United States,
this gun was in perfect working condition.
You will hear from Justin Neil who is
a representative of
EMSEMF, excuse me, a company out of California that has
historically been known to provide firearms to the movie industry.
Mr. Neil will tell you that when EMF received this
firearm in
2017, it was in perfect working order and in fact,
when EMF had this firearm,
it was subjected to numerous quality control inspections because it
was used as a Shogun
at gun shows.
The evidence will show that in September of
2021, an individual by the name of Seth Kenny
was contacted by the folks with Rust Production.
They asked Mr. Kenny if he was he would be
able to provide some firearms for the filming for use
during the filming of Rust.
You will learn that Mister Kenney owns PDQ Firearm and
Prop.
It's a duly licensed firearms dealership.
Mr. Kenney then contacted EMF
and ordered several single action replica revolvers
and in September or on September
29th, 2021, Mr. Kenney purchased this gun
and you will hear that Mister Kenny received it from
EMF and it was in perfect working order.
The only thing that Mister Kenny did to this gun
was to insert the firing pin
because since it was a Shogun,
it didn't have a firing pin.
But you'll learn that that's a very easy step.
All he had to do was just insert the pin
and that's it.
And then Mr. Kenny had the firearms,
this one and some other firearms,
transferred to the set of Rust at the Bonanza Creek
Ranch.
And on October
13th, 2021,
the defendant was supposed to have a training session
with this gun and this young armor.
But you will see that during this training session,
the defendant had somebody or a couple of people filming
him
while he's running around shooting this gun.
You will learn, ladies and gentlemen,
or you'll hear during this trial the use of the
words prop gun,
and you'll learn A prop gun is this real gun.
It's not a toy.
It's not made of rubber.
It's a real gun.
You will also see evidence,
ladies and gentlemen, that during the days before that fateful
October 21st day,
the defendant handled this firearm multiple occasions.
You will see video footage
of the defendant firing this firearm
working perfectly fine.
But you'll see evidence, ladies and gentlemen,
that each time the defendant handled this firearm,
he did not do a safety check
with that inexperienced armor.
And you'll hear that the reason he didn't do a
safety check
is because he didn't want to offend her.
The evidence you will see
will paint a real life picture
of a real life workplace where this defendant
mishandled this gun.
You will see him using this gun as a pointer
to point at people,
to point at things. You will see him cock the
hammer
when he's not supposed to cock the hammer.
You will see him put his finger on the trigger
when his fingers not supposed to be on the trigger.
You will hear
about numerous breaches of firearm safety
with this defendant and this use of this firearm
and the evidence will show that.
On the morning of October
21st, 2021,
the camera crew walked off set
and you will learn that one of the reasons that
camera crew
walked out is because they were concerned over safety breaches
with the use of firearms.
The evidence will show that
the morning of October 21st started out a couple of
hours behind.
They filmed some scenes at this church on the Bonanza
Creek Ranch
and you will see that one of those scenes required
the defendant
to pull out his gun.
This was in the morning.
Pull out his gun and you'll hear the director tell
him,
pull it out and hold it.
And the first time you'll see evidence the defendant does
what the director tells him.
But you're you will hear the director tell you
that many times the defendant would do his own thing.
So then the director in the morning asked him,
OK, do it again just like you did.
Now
the defendant pulls out the gun,
but this time he cocks the hammer.
The evidence will show. They then broke for lunch
and around 1:30 or so they came back to this
church to
do what's called a blocking.
The evidence will show that
Miss Hutchins wanted to do a blocking for an insert
and you will learn what a blocking is.
Just working out the details of the moves of the
actor.
Wasn't even a rehearsal.
You will hear from one of the witnesses who walked
into the church and saw the defendant kind of playing
with his gun.
And then you will see evidence or hear evidence
that
Miss Hutchins and Mr. Sousa were
talking to the defendant about doing this insert.
And the insert was just supposed to be from here
to here.
And it was supposed to be of the defendant just
slowly
taking his gun out of this holster,
out of his holster and just holding it at an
angle.
The evidence will show that
someone asked the armorer to bring the
defendant's gun to him and she did.
She brought it into the church,
showed it to David Halls,
who you will learn is was the first assistant director.
The gun was empty. Miss Gutierrez then handed the gun
to the defendant. But then you will hear that Miss
Gutierrez was given the gun back
and she took it and loaded it with dummy rounds.
And what you will learn is that dummy rounds are
inert rounds.
They look like real, real rounds,
but they are very easy to tell
that they are not because they'll rattle.
Miss Gutierrez then went back to the church,
showed the revolver to the first assistant director very fast.
They only checked about 3 rounds very quick
and they missed one round.
You will learn that one of the rounds in that
revolver was a real round
and the evidence will show that Miss Gutierrez then handed
the gun to the defendant.
And what you will learn
is that once again, the defendant failed to do
a gun check or safety check with this armor.
So he takes the firearm,
puts it in his holster.
Then Miss Hutchins and Mr.
Souza were doing this blocking.
And the evidence will show,
ladies and gentlemen,
that the defendant again did his own thing.
You will hear from an
individual by the name of Kent Jorgensen.
Mr. Jorgensen will tell you that he's been involved in
drafting and revising movie set safety rules.
You will learn that these movie set safety rules
require
actors like the defendant to treat every firearm as though
it's loaded,
to never point a firearm at another person,
and to never put your finger on the trigger unless
you're prepared to shoot
or to destroy whatever's in front of you.
The evidence will show that on October
21st, 2021,
after that lunch break, the defendant once again violated those
set safety rules
and during this blocking,
the director had instructed him to just slowly take out
that gun and just hold it at an angle.
But you will see if the defendant
takes it out quickly the first time,
points it and you will hear witness testimony who will
tell you
the first time he does it,
his finger is on or around the trigger.
He does it again,
takes it out very fast,
points it, and once again
you will hear testimony that his finger was on
or around the trigger
and the evidence will show that that third and fatal
time.
He takes it out once again,
fast
hammers cocked. He cocks the hammer,
points it straight at Miss Hutchins
and fires that gun,
sending that live bullet right into Miss Hutchins body.
You will learn that this bullet was a 45 caliber
round
that entered Miss Hutchins body right underneath
her right underarm.
It perforated her right lung,
it traveled through her spine,
lacerating her spinal cord, and then it exited
on the left side of her back.
That bullet then went into Joel Souza's right shoulder
and it came to rest in his back
from where doctors removed it once he was transported
to Saint Vincent's Hospital here in Santa Fe.
You will learn, ladies and gentlemen,
that
Miss Hutchins did not have the same fate.
You will see the aftermath
of the shooting, and you will see medics frantically working
to save Miss Hutchins, to stabilize her,
to transport her, to airlift her to UNM hospital.
But the damage from that bullet was too much.
Miss Hutchins succumbed to her injuries and bled to death.
The evidence will show that.
Meanwhile, after the shooting, the defendant began to claim he
didn't pull the trigger.
The evidence will show, ladies and gentlemen,
that's not possible.
You will hear from Mr.
Pieta himself, who will tell you
that gun will not discharge without a pull of the
trigger.
You will hear from firearms experts who will tell you
that gun will not discharge without a pull of that
trigger.
The evidence will show that Law enforcement officials arrived at
the scene on October 21st after the shooting
and immediately took this gun into their custody.
Then later they asked the FBI for assistance in processing
this gun for forensics and examination.
You will learn that the gun and some ammunition that
was taken from the set and from PDQ arms
were sent to the FBI for analysis.
You will learn that the gun first went to the
DNA section of the lab
where a DNA analyst found the
defendant's DNA on this gun,
and then the gun was transferred to the firearms and
tool marks section of the lab
where a firearms examiner examined this gun
very carefully and closely.
Bryce Siegler, who is the firearms examiner for the FBI,
will tell you that when he received this firearm,
he first examined it. He didn't see any defects,
didn't see any modifications. He tried and he checked the
hammer in the three different
positions, caulking positions. He checked the quarter cock position,
fine, check the half cock position,
fine. Check the full cock position,
fine.
And when he held it in the full cock position,
you will hear that hammer held
until he pulled the trigger.
You will also hear that Mister Ziegler test fired this
gun 12 different times
and each time that gun fired as it was designed.
Each time
when he pulled that trigger,
it fired.
And he will tell you that not once that this
gun malfunction or discharge on its own.
Now, the evidence will show that because the defendant had
been claiming that he didn't pull the trigger.
Mr. Ziegler suggested one last Test to the Sheriff's Department.
Mr. Ziegler told the Sheriff's Department that he could do
what's called an accidental discharge test.
He obtained authorization to do this test.
And you will hear that he left that test for
last
because that test
could potentially damage the gun.
Mr. Ziegler went forward after he received this authorization and
conducted the accidental discharge test.
And you will hear, ladies and gentlemen,
that during that test,
a couple of the internal components of this firearm
damaged.
You will hear that
the trigger seer and the full cock hammer notch
were damaged during the accidental discharge testing.
The evidence will show, however,
that before this accidental discharge testing by the FBI,
this gun functioned and worked perfectly fine.
You'll see the video footage of the multiple occasions during
which the defendant used this firearm on the set,
and each time he fired it,
it was working just fine.
And in fact, you'll hear evidence that the defendant himself
admitted in December of 2021
that this gun didn't have any mechanical problems.
You will hear from the
two of the country's leading experts on firearms forensics,
Michael Hague and Lucian Hague,
and they will tell you that they examine the revolver
and the damaged pieces extensively.
They will tell you that the damage to the full
cocked trigger notch
is consistent with the accidental discharge testing that was conducted
by the FBI.
Lucien Haig will tell you that
in August of 2023 he examined the trigger seer,
the other piece, and that when he looked at it
initially with the naked eye,
there was nothing wrong with it.
He couldn't see anything. But then he put it under
the microscope,
and he noticed some kind of rough microscopic diagonal lines
on the surface of the trigger sphere.
And since at the time he did not know how
Mr.
Ziegler had conducted the accidental discharge test,
he opined that these very small microscopic lines
were likely not caused by the FBI accidental discharge testing.
But he could not exclude that as the source of
those lines.
Then a few weeks ago,
Mr. Haig will tell you that he spoke with Mr.
Ziegler and he learned how Mr.
Ziegler had conducted the accidental discharge test.
Mr. Ziegler explained that he affixed that firearm onto a
fixed platform
and then struck the firearm on 6 different planes with
a rubber mallet.
And Mr. Ziegler explained to Mr.
Haig that he had not
affixed the mallet to another fixed device,
instead he did it freehand.
Mr. Haig will tell you with his 50 plus years
of experience as a forensic firearms forensics expert,
he opined or concluded that those very tiny microscopic diagonal
lines on the surface of the trigger sphere
were likely caused by the FB is accidental discharge test.
The evidence will show ladies and gentlemen that regardless of
how those tiny microscopic lines got on that trigger sear,
these firearms experts will tell you that
those would not affect the functionality of this firearm.
At the end of this case,
ladies and gentlemen,
you are going to conclude and be convinced beyond a
reasonable doubt
that on October
21st, 2021, that gun the defendant had asked to be
assigned
worked perfectly fine as it was designed.
And that the fatal and one of the main problems
that afternoon of October 21st
was that the defendant didn't do a gun safety check
with that inexperienced armor.
He pointed the gun at another human being,
caught the hammer and pulled that trigger
in reckless disregard for Miss Hutchins safety.
And you will be convinced
that the only true and just verdict in this case
so that true justice can be served
is a verdict of guilty
to involuntary manslaughter. Thank you.