Alec Baldwin Plans to Call 'Hollywood Pals' to Testify During 'Rust' Trial After Film's Armorer Found Guilty of Involuntary Manslaughter: Source
Alec is set to go to trial in July for involuntary manslaughter charges in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
March 8 2024, Published 11:00 a.m. ET
Embattled actor Alec Baldwin is reportedly looking to have his Hollywood friends testify in his defense when he is tried for the death of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins later this year, RadarOnline.com has learned.
In the latest development to come after Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was convicted of involuntary manslaughter on Wednesday, sources close to Baldwin revealed that the actor and producer was “considering putting together a list of famous people” who would testify in his defense at his manslaughter trial in July.
Baldwin was charged with one count of involuntary manslaughter for the death of Halyna Hutchins.
According to TMZ, Baldwin and his defense team have turned to Rust co-star Frances Fisher, Mickey Rourke, Debra Messing, DJ Qualls and other “people who've already spoken out in Alec's defense” to testify.
“Whatever Alec needs I’ll be there 100 percent,” Rourke told TMZ, although he admitted that no one from Baldwin’s defense team has reached out regarding a possible testimony.
“The armorer is 100 percent responsible for any gun handed to an actor,” Rourke added. “Especially to an actor who didn't have experience with guns.”
Rourke previously spoke out in Baldwin’s defense back in January 2023. He argued that there was “no way in hell actor Alec Baldwin should be charged with any negligence whatsoever” because “the guns are supposed to be handled only by” the film’s armorer.
Baldwin and his defense team have turned to Rust co-star Frances Fisher, Mickey Rourke, Debra Messing, DJ Qualls and other “people who've already spoken out in Alec's defense” to testify.
The boxer-turned-actor also wrote that “the powers that be charging Baldwin with this responsibility is terribly wrong” because Baldwin was “already suffering enough over what happened.”
Frances Fisher, Baldwin’s Rust co-star, also spoke out in Baldwin’s defense back in January 2023.
“Anyone NOT in the industry or who has not worked on a set should STFU – you’re showing your ignorance,” she wrote last year.
“The grandstanding prosecutor doesn’t even go after the true culprit: Who put a live round in the gun?” Fisher continued at the time. “There is NO investigation about that. THAT is the question.”
Baldwin pleaded not guilty to the involuntary manslaughter charged in January.
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Baldwin was once again charged with one count of involuntary manslaughter earlier this year in connection to the accidental on-set shooting death of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on October 21, 2021.
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Baldwin pleaded not guilty to the involuntary manslaughter charge in January, and his trial is scheduled to start in Santa Fe, New Mexico on July 10.
Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who also pleaded not guilty to one charge of involuntary manslaughter in connection to Hutchins’s October 2021 death, was convicted in court on Wednesday.
Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was convicted for involuntary manslaughter earlier this month in connection to Hutchins's death.
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The 12 jurors found that Gutierrez-Reed acted with a "willful disregard for the safety of others" on the set of Rust in October 2021 and that Hutchins's tragic death was a "foreseeable" consequence of the armorer's actions.
Gutierrez-Reed, 26, will be sentenced at a sentencing hearing scheduled for later this year. She faces up to 18 months in prison and a $5,000 fine for the involuntary manslaughter of Hutchins.
Baldwin was said to be "nervous" after Gutierrez-Reed's conviction this week, OK! reported.
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