Two of Alec Baldwin’s collapsed ‘Rust’ court case jurors have said he wasn’t facing a “very strong case” and it was “silly” he was on trial.
Two of Alec Baldwin’s collapsed ‘Rust’ court case jurors have said he wasn’t facing a ‘very strong case’ and it was ‘silly’ he was on trial
The 66-year-old actor burst into tears on July 12 in a New Mexico court room – where he was standing accused of involuntary manslaughter after cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, 42, was killed on the set of neo-Western movie ‘Rust’ in New Mexico in 2021 – when his case was chucked out by a judge after she heard a motion from his legal team over a claim ammunition evidence was hidden.
Two jurors, Johanna Haag and Gabriela Picayo, have now spoken to the New York Times about their feelings over the case, saying as it went on they decided Alec shouldn’t be in court over the tragedy.
Johanna said: “As the week went by, it just didn’t, it didn’t seem like a very strong case.
“It was clearly an accident, and the idea that there’s anything purposeful, or the idea that there was this grave carelessness that caused this, didn’t seem realistic to me.”
Gabriela, a scientist who served as juror No 9, added Alec should not have been expected to know a lot about gun safety.
She said: “I think he would have trusted the people, you know, on the set to do their job… I was starting to move towards the direction of thinking that this was very silly and he should not be on trial.”
Alec insisted he did not pull the trigger or know how the gun that killed Halyna contained live ammunition and was facing up to 18 months if convicted of her involuntary manslaughter.
The actor’s lawyers said the Santa Fe sheriff's office took possession of live rounds as evidence in the case but failed to list them in the ‘Rust’ investigation file or disclose their existence to defence lawyers.
During his trial, Alec’s lawyer Alex Spiro made the claim to a sheriff’s office crime scene technician under cross-examination during a hearing on the motion to dismiss the case while jurors were not in the courtroom.
Alec’s attorney Luke Nikas also told the judge: “We’re talking about a prosecution that didn’t preserve those bullets, that didn’t collect them at all. That didn’t turn them over.
“This is critical evidence in the case that was never disclosed to us… we were entitled to it.
“This case should be dismissed, Your Honor.”
Alec broke his silence on the case being tossed in an Instagram post a day later.
He said in a caption alongside an image of himself at Santa Fe County District Courthouse with his fingers to his lips as he looked into the air: “There are too many people who have supported me to thank just now.
“To all of you, you will never know how much I appreciate your kindness toward my family.”
His post was liked by more than 1,000 people within minutes, and his supporters included Sir Anthony Hopkins.
‘The Silence of the Lambs’ actor, 86, responded to Alec’s post with a red heart emoji.
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