How the prosecution in Alec Baldwin's 'Rust' trial fell apart
In a scene befitting a Hollywood legal thriller, Alec Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter trial came to an abrupt and stunning end Friday as a judge threw out the case with prejudice, capping a legal saga that shadowed the 66-year-old actor’s career and raised questions about the future of gunplay on movie sets.
In a scene befitting a Hollywood legal thriller, Alec Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter trial came to an abrupt and stunning end Friday as a judge threw out the case with prejudice, capping a legal saga that shadowed the 66-year-old actor’s career and raised questions about the future of gunplay on movie sets.
But how exactly did the prosecution’s case come apart — and so quickly? NBC News followed every minute of the abbreviated trial and kept track of the key moments.
Baldwin was charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of Halyna Hutchins, a 42-year-old cinematographer who was fatally shot on the set of the Western film “Rust” in 2021 after a prop gun discharged. Baldwin, who was holding the revolver at the time, pleaded not guilty in the case and said he believed the weapon was loaded with blanks, not live rounds.
The specific issue that led to the downfall of the prosecution’s case arose Thursday, on the second day of the trial. Alex Spiro, Baldwin’s lead attorney, asked Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office crime scene technician Marissa Poppell whether a “good Samaritan” had come to authorities with ammunition earlier this year.
Poppell confirmed under oath that the sheriff’s office was given Colt .45 rounds by Troy Teske, a former police officer and friend of Thell Reed, the stepfather of “Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed. In fact, according to that testimony, Teske dropped off the rounds on the same day Gutierrez-Reed was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Hutchins’ death. (She was later sentenced to 18 months behind bars.)
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