at some point I have a feeling prosecution are some kinds of Trump's puppet. They are supposed to be government asset that serve public trust, but the case seems to be personal.
If you don't know him personally then you only " feel" whatever you feel based on what you have heard through the media. If the media you have consumed is biased then you would struggle to convince me you understand the truth.
I work in law... and it is truly UNBELIEVABLE to me that the prosecution could be so negligent and incompetent in a case of this magnitude and publicity. Regardless of your opinion on whether he should have been convicted or not, the Judge in this case did exactly what must be done to in a fair legal system. While ours is not perfect, this Judge should be an example to others.
I agree, but Alec's conduct and denial has turned me so off on anything that has to do with him through this trial. He is going to grift off this and act like "I didn't pull the trigger" "this wasn't my fault" until he goes blue. And that kind of disgust me. I just hope this ruins his reputation in the film industry.
@@Dont.Call.Me.Tall. If you truly knew something monstrous that happened was not your fault, you may find you'd be defensive too. While it's cliche, everyone does handle grief differently, and self preservation is a very natural response. I think some grace should be considered under these circumstances, but that's just me.
@@allysoncostello1837 I understand your point, but I have worked on film sets. His negligence led to someone dying. I would never want to work for him personally at this point. I don't think he should be grifting off of tragedy right now. And here he is producing again before the trial even ended. It is just gross from my standpoint. Makes me wonder if that was what all of his conduct was about leading into this. To sell a reality TV show.
The thing that just shocked me is that the judge asked why this evidence was placed under another case number, and the police employees answered that basically the prosecuting attorney DIRECTED them to do that. That was a deliberate conspiracy to bury or hide evidence from the defense, and it's criminal. I hope the judge refers this prosecutor to the state bar and she loses her license forever.
Poppell said ‘my lieutenant’ told her to file the evidence under a different case file. The prosecutor says she didn’t know that and expected all the discovery to be given to the defense. Still, the mess destroyed the case - and rightly so, but it would have been closure to find out the likely provider for the live ammunition, Sara or Seth maybe? 🤔
@@quacker998 No there was another employee that said that the prosecutor directed them to do it or decided with the police to do it. The judge mentioned it when she went through all the reasons why she was dismissing with prejudice. As for finding out about the live rounds, that's the thing. The Santa Fe DA's office seems to be actively avoiding investigating that issue, probably because it undercut their other cases. I don't think this trial continuing was going to provide any closure on that, especially since the prosecutors were hiding evidence that had to do with that very issue.
@@reneeparker7475 I imagine they would have become famous and that would have ensured their career advancement. It is a very distorted system in the states.
I totally agree. I do believe that is a major problem with the justice system in the US. You have a prosecutor that wants to win a case against someone even if that person acted in self defense; I can remember the prosecutor that was charging Kyle Rittenhouse, that prosecutor just wanted to make a name for himself!
The prosecutor should be disbarred for not providing all the material evidence to the defense. I am happy the Baldwin's case was dismissed with prejudice.
Disbarred? That's the LEAST of it. She should go to state prison! How DARE she withhold evidence that would prove a man's innocence just to gain a conviction. That's not only illegal, but scary as hell. Way too much of this goes on across the country.
@@retroguy9494it’s the fact she had the audacity to decide what evidence was relevant or not for the defence or case. She’s not the finder of fact, the jury are it was meant to be up to the jury to determine the facts of the case and what happened. But not only that she KNEW of the evidence and still failed to disclose it, the lead detective knew of the footage even if they’d just seen it failed to disclose it to the defence and was promptly called out by the judge for that. Its a shame their conduct ruined the integrity if the case that the judge had to dismiss. Regardless of what we think of Baldwin, no one deserves a corrupt prosecution
I worked in the industry for 25 years, The armorer is responsible for the safety or all weapons on set without exception. Unless there is proof that Baldwin loaded the weapon with contraband ammunition, he is absolutely not responsible for ANY mishap on set. He just isn't. If the armorer was unqualified, the producers share responsibility. Alec Baldwin is blameless, but he will have to live with his part in this tragedy
You don't know anything about gun safety? if a gun is given to you it doesn't matter who gave it to you you always double check if it's loaded and not pointed to anyone.
You say "if the armourer was unqualified", but what if the armourer was under resourced, overworked, poorly managed.. etc? What if she was qualified but not actually safe? What if safety on the set overall was downplayed or brushed aside by the producers themselves in order to maintain a production schedule? Do the producers share responsibility then? the producers were: Alec Baldwin Matt DelPiano Ryan Donnell Smith Anjul Nigam Ryan Winterstern Nathan Klingher Grant Hill This is what people are upset about RE: the outcome of this case (that and Alec lying about pulling the trigger). Read the article called "In email exchange before shooting, ‘Rust’ armorer said she needed to focus on weapons, not props" by the LA Times. It seems as thought the film armourer's work was mis-managed not just by the armourer, but by the producers.... contributing to this accident. There is another article that says the armourer demonstrated failures of safety on previous films, demonstrating incompetence in the film armourer role. When an aircraft crashes, all the contributing factors are considered, including organisational factors, management, workload, fatigue, maintenance, communication etc. Many contributing factors in this incident have been overlooked because of the viability of prosecution. I am not defending the armourer. I am asking for the contributing factors to be addressed and the appropriate lessons learned.
The prosecution has the burden of proof. They failed to do their job correctly, and the case got thrown out. This is how our criminal justice system works and why people are presumed innocent until proven guilty. In my opinion, if the prosecution had a strong case they would not have had to withhold discovery evidence from the court and the defense. The investigators have let down the victim's friends and family. Someone is responsible for bringing that live ammunition to the set. Someone could have purposefully mixed the live rounds with the blanks. Now we will never know who is responsible. And the possibility of this person sabotaging another set remains high. Or either it was an honest accident by a careless stagehand or manager. We will never know because investigators and the prosecution didn't do their jobs right.
On the other hand, 34 felony convictions should be taken at face value, and disregard Orange Hitler's claims he was "railroaded" by a biased prosecutor, judge and jury. The system works just fine.
You should always check a weapon when it's handed to you. That said, the armorer has the responsibility here. I'm sure there's a lot of actors that can't tell the difference between a live round and a blank. Someone was lackadaisical in their work and someone else died as a result. Charges never should have been brought.
@@alphabravo8703 It's not an actor's job to know what a live bullet looks like or to "inspect" any prop. An actor's job is to do what the script says with the prop, no more, no less. This is the prop master's fault, no one else's. Alec Baldwin was harassed because he's a vocal Democrat, and it's justice that this case was dismissed.
@@mixes-level1613 Pure BS. If he doesn't know how to handle a firearm, he shouldn't handle one. There is no excuse. He pulled the trigger, he is directly responsible for the outcome.
This would fall under entertainment law. He was on a film set when an accident occurred and someone died. Imagine this more like an OSHA case than a m3rder trial.
Case was a sham to begin with. NM prosecutor going after someone famous to make a name for himself even though all the evidence supported the lack of any guilt. Law enforcement did their part to help him by hiding evidence but that came out in court. The gun specialist on the movie is already serving time for her guilt in the case. This was just a waste of time and money from the start.
If someone sabotaged the set by dropping a few live rounds onto the armourers cart, the armourer believes they are only dealing with blanks. I think the armourers conviction is now with a shaky foundation. The police should have traced that batch of live ammunition to those that purchased from it. It wasn't Baldwin and wasn't the armourer. Instead the Police ONLY looked at what was on set, and not where the live ammunition was sourced from. They had a clue and discarded that evidence and did not try to trace external sources. Then did not submit that evidence.
@@awalk5177 She failed to do her job properly and is doing time over it. Why the prosecutor didnt go after the that thread is beyond logic. WHO put those live rounds into the mix?
@@BlazingShackles The difference between a live round and a blank is easy to spot. One has a projectile, the other is crimped shut. awalk is either a bot, or cerebrally lacking.
I agree, but I think him hocking a reality tv show and his demeanor in court rubbed me the wrong way. He is going to spin a narrative where nothing was his fault ("I didn't pull the trigger"), but I say that is bull. You would think that even if you hit somebody with a car on complete accident would still feel bad for taking a life, but I saw none of that with Alec.
@@mile_high_topher In 1976, the Supreme Court ruled that prosecutors have absolute immunity-and so cannot be sued-for misconduct related to their advocacy in the courtroom.
There was live ammo in the gun regardless of the extra found separately.This doesn't change the arguments for or against culpability of Baldwin logically .
True, the producers should have taken the initiative to offer compensation, it happened on their set. Maybe they did, before the prosecution decided to mess everything up?
Seems like the prosecutors in this case were so hard up to getting a guilty verdict that they were willing to morally compromise themselves, probably for political clout, shame, shame, shame
Baldwin should never have been charged. Malicious prosecution by an ignorant lime-lighting prosecutorial team. Halyna died because the entire movie prop system is flawed. A firearm that has not been rendered incapable of firing a round should NEVER be allowed on set. That flawed system is not the actor's fault.
This ENTIRE case has just been people failing to do their jobs properly. From the armorer to the prosecution and a lot of the other people in between… I never understood why Baldwin was held criminally responsible for any of this… it’s not his job to care for the weapons. Not as an actor or a producer. It was the armorer’s job. Period. She failed at her job and someone died. It’s horrible, but that’s what it boils down to…
There's probably a lot of actors who can't tell a live round from a blank. You'd think an armorer would take that into consideration. Those charges should never have been brought against Baldwin in the first place.
They had no business taking him to court for this in the first place. It is always the responsibility of whoever is loading the weapons on set to ensure everyone's safety. The fact that bullets got in there was the responsibility of the director, the security on the set and the person who is in charge of the weapons. Not the actor firing the weapon. that's ridiculous. Look what happened in the Brandon Lee case. I don't necessarily like the actor, but this was a wrongful lawsuit against him to begin with.
Baldwin as producer and was responsible for hiring the armorer and allowing the armorer to run a safe set for the actors. He failed. Baldwin the man was too busy putting snow up his nose and cosplaying as a rootin-tootin- shoot-em-up cowboy. He failed. Actors are not “responsible gun owners.” Ever. Being responsible is “the production”s job. As a producer, Baldwin failed. The case may have been dismissed but don’t expect Baldwin to ever get ”other people’s money” to play with again. He can go sell cars now.
2 1/2 years of agony for Mr. Baldwin have come to an end, just as they should have ! Excellent ! Mr. Baldwin had no responsibility for the prop at all ! He understood that "real" bullets were not on the set. The Armor failed to properly attend t the prop. Baldwin should never have been charged in the first place !
So did the prosecutor know about the evidence but seem it irrelevant or as she now claims outside the court didn't know about it? She's absolutely outrageous!
I'm so glad, it was the responsibility of the gun handler to make sure it was safe - not his. Good job judge. Bring the prosecutor up on charges for unethical behavior.
I do not know if they ever answered that question. What I do know is the police did not further investigate if the submitted ammo was the ammo that was used. In the first few months after the accident, there were rumors that some members of the crew were firing the guns with live rounds off hours as films like this one may procure weapons the crew members may not normally fire. I do not if that was ever investigated as a possible source of live ammo.
Exactly. So far, it's seemed like the Santa Fe District Attorney's office is actively avoiding investigating that, probably because they know the answer would undercut their big case against Baldwin. Since that case no longer exists, we'll see if they actually finally care about finding the root cause of this tragedy.
My understanding is that the sample ammo was send to the Santa Fe Sheriff after Gutierrez-Reed had already been convicted, but before her sentencing. Not sure how that impacts a Brady disclosure requirement. But certainly that wouldn't have been available during the trial.
I’m not a lawyer but the judge researched a bunch of issues that allowed her to dismiss. I want to know, why was there live ammunition on the set, in the first place?
Unethical, Misguided, Reprehensible, Shady, Dereliction of Duty... there's a reason they just hid those bullets away, whatever that evidence was it must have hurt their case
He probably shouldn't have been charged in the first place but everyone is entitled to their day in court and let the evidence speak for itself. The problem is the prosecutors HID the evidence. Unbelievable.
I wonder if he was a female actor if they would have expected gun safety knowledge. I was raised with BB guns, shadow rifle a few times and raise with hunters and the family and I would not be able to tell if the red live rounds or not in that gun. Unless there is a requirement for actors to go through gun safety before handling a weapon of any kind how can we possibly hold them accountable when they hire someone specifically to ensure it is safe due to the lack of knowledge of the actors.
So disturbing that the prosecution withheld evidence. Happy for @alecbaldwin. I was not a fan of how the prosecution treated armorer Hannah G, either. It is so sad 😢what happened and the loss of life that occurred- ❤rest in peace Helena Hutchins.
@@jnewcomb thank you for the correction. I was in the sunlight and have been down with dental infections and not seeing very well. My apologies and my honor to her family.
We don’t know since police botched the investigation. Instead of properly submitting discovered ammunition for tests and documentation, they covered it up by filing under different case number. Prosecutors should have stopped it, but went along with the grossly improper procedure. One of the biggest requirements in western criminal law is that prosecution provide all evidence to defense for awareness. Not done here…
I knew it he was innocent period I felt bad for him when they tried to blame him for something it was clear that was not his fault I’m glad he can go home with his family
I get the rationale for throwing the case out of court. Procedures were ignored. Dismissed with prejudice is, in my eyes, an overreach. Essentially the judge castrated trial by a jury of peers with this ruling.
Who ever loaded the gun with live ammunition is responsible. Alec was doing his job as an actor, act. Blank rounds or no rounds is what every actor in every movie with a gun fight expects.
The gun was in his hand. He pulled the trigger. He is ultimately responsible. No one should be handling firearms without actively seeking proper training, which he obviously did not bother to do. He is willing to make money on a movie set using a tool he despises and does not believe anyone has the right to own, but he is not willing to do due diligence for the safety of those around him.
@@hamstring6792 and as far as the whole fight to own it’s a movie, not real life. Yeah that stuff happens in real life but on a movie set it’s fake and is suppose to stay fake. Armorer is responsible for making sure that gun does not shoot real bullets killing any of the actor. How in the world was Alec suppose to know the gun was loaded with live rounds. Especially if he doesn’t own guns himself which I’m assuming he doesn’t based on what you’ve said.
@@hamstring6792 and one more thing, if he was properly trained, the same incident would have happened, again due to the fault of the armorer. Literally everything points to the armorer. Unless you would expect him to unload the firearm and inspect each individual bullet, and then somehow be an expert like the armorer and confirm each bullet is a blank.
@@HowieOnAKawi The same incident would not have happened if he was properly trained because he would have checked the firearm himself, as would anyone who is properly trained. If someone hands me a firearm, you can bet that I will check it thoroughly. I will not even touch the trigger until I'm sure of what state it is in. Even if the gun had blanks, shooting someone at close distance would cause certain damage, including blindness if shot in the face. And since it was a revolver, you can easily see from inspecting the front of the cylinder if it's empty, has blanks or has real bullets.
@@hamstring6792 it’s pretty much impossible when the gun is loaded even with a revolver to be able to tell if the gun is loaded with blanks or real bullets. End of the bullet where the firing pin hits will look the same. If he emptied it out before hand and inspected each bullet he may have been able to tell. Or maybe not. Idk I don’t expect the guy to do the job of the armorer on every scene. It’s a movie set it’s a team. Everyone has a job to do. Not that it matters but I legally own 3 subs 2 ar15 rifles and a variety of handguns. Anyone reading this take a look at Canik TP9SF handgun. Best trigger i have ever felt on any gun period.
This is an outrage for the victim / victim's family. No matter haw unacceptable the prosecution case the remedy is sanction towards the prosecution - not against the victim. Only in America.
The thing is that doesn’t matter. The prosecution is required to turn over everything and they didn’t. They don’t get to decide if it’s relevant or not the defense gets to decide that.
Two wrongs don’t make right. If Alec Baldwin deserved criminal charges, the police and prosecutors should have followed proper procedures. The alleged coverup and failure to provide evidence to defense counsel renders this case moot.
They are, but prosecution is supposed to ensure that charges are warranted and procedures were properly followed. The sheriff did not submit the ammo for testing and filed it under a different case number. The prosecution should have dismissed the case on their own, but allegedly were aware and allowed the raw evidence to remain concealed.
While that is an interesting thought, why would they do that when they brought the charges in the first place and there might be criminal consequences as a result?
Gutierrez-Reed was still responsible for ensuring the guns she handed to the actors were safe and had no live ammo in them. I don't see how new information about the source of the live ammo would change that.
this is so disgusting, baldwin should be in jail for years to come, my question is the prosecution really this bad, or did they purposefully commit prosecutorial malpractice to give baldwin a free ride??
I’ve done some swordfight stunt coordinating. As long as the actor was following my directions, I alone was responsible for the safety on the set. This case had the right outcome. The armorer was sentenced, but the actor was not liable. Accidents happen. But negligence should be punished. Also, curious if there are any connections of this crooked prosecutor to Trump. This has Trump revenge written all over it.
Ridulous he was charged. He is the actor. There asked to put their all into a scene. Thats why thry employ experts. Its the armory experts responability unless they can show he changed the bullets.