Alec Baldwin Back in Court for ‘Rust’ Trial; Gutierrez-Reed to Testify Soon Live

Alec Baldwin ‘s high-profile trial is now under way in a courthouse in Santa Fe – almost three years after cinematographer Halyna Hutchin was killed in a tragic shooting while filming Western movie Rust.

During a rehearsal of a shooting scene in 2021, a prop gun Baldwin was holding went off, striking and killing Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza.

Baldwin is charged with involuntary manslaughter and faces 18 months in prison.

Just before court began Thursday, Attorney Jason Bowles confirmed that the film’s armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed will testify on Friday. Gutierrez-Reed has already been convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to 18 months in prison.

On Wednesday, jurors heard opening statements with prosecutors saying that the Hollywood star skipped safety checks and recklessly handled a revolver prior to the fatal incident.

Baldwin “played make believe with a real gun and violated the cardinal rules of firearm safety,” special prosecutor Erlinda Ocampo Johnson said.

But defense attorney Alex Spiro said “these cardinal rules, they’re not cardinal rules on a movie set.”

As the first witnesses took the stand, prosecutors played the fraught 911 call in the aftermath of the shooting and graphic bodycam capturing the frantic efforts of first responders to save Hutchins. In the courtroom, Baldwin looked at the screen somberly as the video played.