Even painting this in the light most favorable to Baldwin, it’s hard to see how he could escape criminal liability, aside from being a wealthy and well-connected Hollywood liberal.
New Mexico’s version of involuntary homicide reads “Involuntary manslaughter consists of manslaughter committed in the commission of an unlawful act not amounting to felony, or in the commission of a lawful act which might produce death in an unlawful manner or without due caution and circumspection.”
I’m not a lawyer, but he seems to meet the following elements:
1) “lawful act which might produce death” and “without due caution and circumspection”.
It’s the sort of thing that usually gets applied when a car is operated recklessly, but I don’t see why it would not apply in this case.
Frankly, the person who placed the loaded gun on a prop cart would also seem to meet those elements. But it’s not either Baldwin or the prop master , they both were unconscionably negligent.
Everyone that I know who is familiar with guns knows this in his bones, but the “hey, it’s just a prop and he’s just an actor how could he have known” media spin does seem to be convincing to the masses.
Lezbo Santa Fe County district attorney won’t prosecute him.
Prop guns either cannot shoot or can only shoot blanks!
He's just an idiot actor who claims to know all there is to know about guns and obviously missed the childhood lesson of never point a gun at another even if it's a toy.
Sounds like involuntary manslaughter should be the charged crime after the DA rules out intention to kill.
Involuntary manslaughter seems to fill the bill. I would apply it to all three - Baldwin, the assistant director, and the armorer.
Most actors don’t know how to handle firearms, period. They have to be shown which end the hurt comes out of, how to hold it, how to point it, and what bits not to touch, how to avoid slide bite, how to not get hit in the face by the slide, etc. Alec Baldwin probably falls in this category. Remember the funny sideways ghetto aim? That was the prop manager or armorer showing the actor how to handle the pistol without throwing a casing across the stage. Then the actor thought that looked cool and used it. Then the gangbangers emulated them...
So actors really are that stupid. But there is no excuse for the armorer or the assistant director. Checking a revolver is as easy as turning it on its side and looking at the gap.
I’d like to see all three of them in jail. But that doesn’t bring back the lovely camera woman.
Actors are not exempt from checking the gun. It’s in the filming with weapons rules. The armorer must display to any cast and crew that the gun is unloaded. It is the bearer who is responsible to check. Cast member or crew. If the Almighty hands you a gun, trust him. No one else. YOU are responsible no matter what you do for a living.
If you’re only at the mental capacity of a 5 year old, you cannot be cast as an adult in a gun film.
Media spin doesn’t convince me of squat!
He had the weapon in his own hand, he cocked it with his own thumb, he aimed it at that woman with his own eyes, he pulled the trigger with his own index finger, HE SHOT THAT WOMAN DEAD!!!
END OF STORY!
The STUPID MAY BURN HIM, but it is no excuse.