‘Destroyed’: Alec Baldwin’s Lawyer Fights ‘Rust’ Shooting Charge with Stunning Firearm Claim

I do have some very unfortunate news to. tell you what. um she didn't make it. so Joel's still at the hospital. but the other person as well didn't make. it. Alec Baldwin's legal team claims the New. Mexico government destroyed the gun that. was used in the rust movie said shooting. but the prosecutors say that's not true.

criminal defense attorney Randy zellin. tries to make sense of the latest in. this high profile case welcome to. sidebar presented by law and crime I'm. Jesse Weber. well it is that time and it is the time. to get into the latest with the Alec. Baldwin criminal case and this is all. regarding the deadly shooting on the New. Mexico movie Set Russ that resulted in. the death of cinematographer Helena. Hutchins so as we know Baldwin and rust. armor Hannah Gutierrez read they were.

both charged with two counts of. involuntary manslaughter for their. alleged roles in this tragic shooting. that happened on October 21st 2021. Baldwin was the one holding the gun. there was a dispute over whether he. actually pulled the trigger we know that. he was pointing it in the direction of. Helena Hutchins and the gun did go off. striking her and also wounding director. Joel Souza and of course Gutierrez read. she was the armor it was arguably her. responsibility to check the weapon and.

ensure that there were no live rounds in. the gun or made their way on the set now. both have denied any criminal liability. for the events there is a third person. Dave Halls this is the film's first. assistant assistant director he took a. deal plead guilty misdemeanor charge of. negligent use of a deadly weapon for. handing the weapon over to Baldwin. without checking and he would plead. guilty to this in exchange for receiving. a suspended sentence and six months of. probation so that's the back story but.

now we gotta get into some very very. very interesting updates and I thought. who better to bring in than criminal. defense attorney Randy zelen who if I've. actually debated a little bit with on. the Alec Baldwin case Randy it's always. good to see you I appreciate you taking. the time to come here on sidebar I think. this is your first appearance on sidebar. it is it's a privilege to be with you. all right well let's get into the. bombshell so the bombshell is there is. this virtual hearing it's a short status.

conference you know where you deal with. issues of scheduling and how this trial. is going to look and how the process is. going to look and it seemed relatively. straightforward until Baldwin's attorney. Alex Spiro told the judge that the New. Mexico government destroyed the gun the. firearm the main piece of evidence in. this case he says quote I think I should. tell the court that the firearm in this. case that's a great subject of it was. destroyed by the state so that's.

obviously an issue. I think he basically said this and we. have the interesting part was he said. um that he'd like to see the firearm or. what's left of it now the prosecution. didn't say anything about this in the. hearing they were completely mum but. afterwards in a statement to CNBC they. wrote quote the gun Alec Baldwin used in. the shooting that killed Helena Hutchins. has not been destroyed by the state the. gun is in evidence and is available for. the defense to review this is from.

Heather Brewer spokesperson for the New. Mexico First Judicial District. Attorney's office and she went on to say. that the defense's unexpected statement. in the status hearing today that the gun. has been destroyed by the state maybe a. reference to a statement in the FBI's. July 2020 Firearms testing report that. said damage was done to internal. components of the gun during the FBI's. functionality testing however the gun. still exists and can be used as evidence. Randy you got to make sense of this for. me what's going on here.

well first of all Mr Baldwin is. extremely lucky. to have Alex Spyro joining his team I am. lucky enough to consider Alex a friend. he is one of the finest. criminal defense attorneys on the planet. there's probably no one in Greater. Demand right now than Alex and and with. good reason but. it's very interesting what the. prosecutor said it's kind of like me.

saying I have hair. technically I do I don't have a lot of. it it's not like the prosecutor said. this is outrageous this is sanctionable. how dare the defense say that the gun. has been destroyed no. um it sounds like what he was trying to. say is yeah we have the gun it's in. pieces or we have some of the gun but no. it is that is dancing between raindrops. I am sure what they have is a gun that. they took apart and like me aren't able.

to put it back together or maybe lost a. couple of pieces and the the gun really. is the case from the standpoint of one. of Mr Baldwin's defenses is. I can't be responsible for this homicide. because I didn't pull the trigger so. there was a question of operability well. the defense is entitled to test that. weapon to see whether in fact it was. operable and the government has the. burden of demonstrating that the weapon.

was operable at the time that it was. fired so if the gun is in pieces or. there were pieces missing the government. is screwed capital S capital c capital r. capital W and however you spell screw. well I have to ask you why wouldn't they. say this in the hearing did they have to. go back and check do we actually have. this thing I mean look you and I'll. debate maybe a little bit about the. substance of the case but the fact that. they didn't speak up in the hearing in. front of the judge but released the. statement after the fact I'm not sure I.

understand that. oops it's it's called oops it is either. of oh man I can't believe they're. bringing that up now or they didn't know. that Alex was going to bring it up they. got caught with their pants down and. certainly yeah it's like everything else. in life you are expected to speak up in. the moment don't tell me 90 days from. now six months from now a year from now. give me an explanation you owed me the. credible explanation in the moment okay. so let me ask you this let's do a little. bit of a a probability here let's play.

this out let's say the gun is not in a. position to be tested or let's say the. gun really is so damaged so what we know. is over well that's what my question is. right so if the state and the FBI had an. opportunity to test it but the defense. does not have an opportunity to have. their own experts you're saying this is. for Alex Baldwin offer offer Alec. Baldwin a misdemeanor. some kind of negligent handling. and call it a day so this would end I.

mean completely different case but this. would end faster than the Robert Kraft. case like if you don't have this piece. of evidence this is done and by the way. you know who Mr Kraft's defense attorney. was and that was it spiral it was. I'm sorry. it was Alex Spyro okay okay Spyro so. okay now we move on from that issue. hopefully it gets resolved and and we. can see maybe have a gun that's tested. on both sides I want to bring up some. other updates so Baldwin's team is also. trying to get rid of the special. prosecutor in this case Andrea Reed they. want her kicked off because apparently.

she is the Republican state lawmaker and. they argue that under New Mexico's. Constitution she would be forbidden from. playing any judicial role while also. serving as under the state's House of. Representatives I don't know if you've. had an opportunity to look at the. Constitution there it says under section. one of article 3 a sitting member of the. legislature may not exercise any powers. properly belonging to either the. executive or judicial branch what do you. think how that's going to play out. listen it's as simple as that if that's. what it says she's gone if that's not.

what it says she's not gone but what. Alex is doing he is doing his job which. is putting the government to its proof. every single moment every single thing. every single advantage that the defense. can possibly obtain every disadvantage. it can foist upon the prostate. prosecution he's going to make sure that. they rule the day they prosecuted his. client okay but uh the prosecutions come. forward and said the defense's argument. is a misconception it's based on a novel.

theory that has no support in New. Mexican statutes or case law I know the. judge is going to hear this I think. March 27th anyway she might be able to. stay on. well it's very interesting novel and. again we always look for what someone. says and there's always a little bit of. a kernel of Truth and maybe a threat to. pull a novel approach I will tell you Mr. Weber every single case every single. thing that happens in this world the. first time that it happened it was novel. so just because something is novel.

doesn't mean that it's wrong what it. means is that Alex found a threat he's. going to pull on it because let's face. it how often in New Mexico is someone. going to Avail him or herself of this. rule because how often in New Mexico do. they get a case of this profile of this. statue with a defendant where they are. in the National if not the worldwide. Spotlight and that's a great question.

that brings me to the next step of this. so I will tell you there's been some. missteps with the prosecution you want. to add this on maybe they had the wrong. special process computer they don't have. the murder they don't have excuse me. they don't have the firearm that's a big. problem we also know that it was what. two weeks ago they dropped the firearm. enhancements uh statute that was going. to actually result in maybe significant. prison time if Alec Baldwin was uh. minimum mandatory five years yeah how. did they get that wrong so they got that. wrong they got that wrong that the. prosecution ultimately said you know we.

don't want to litigate this with Alec. Baldwin but really what it was was they. charged him under a new statute that. wasn't in effect at the time Helena. Hutchins was ultimately killed I want to. get as my students would know as my. students would know it's called X post. facto which means the fancy way of. saying you can't prosecute me for. something that when I did it wasn't. illegal a hundred percent but this is. where I think you and I disagree and I. want to spend the next couple of minutes. just going over it I'm going to present.

to you what I think are the strongest. arguments in favor of these involuntary. manslaughter charges against Alec. Baldwin if you want we could talk about. Helena Hutchins as well excuse me we. could talk about Hannah Gutierrez reads. so you and I debated a little bit about. this the way that I see it with Alec. Baldwin you know do I think that he. obviously he didn't intend for this to. happen do I think that he knew that. there was a bullet in the gun no but the. mere Act of holding a real weapon and. this wasn't a toy this was a real weapon. and pointing it at someone you could.

argue that that duty of care is. heightened it was a real weapon that. maybe he should even if it was said to. be cold he should have taken the. opportunity to take a moment and not. point it there and now I know he says. that he didn't pull the trigger but. there's photographic evidence to. indicate his phone his finger was on the. trigger we also know that prosecutors. have shown evidence that Baldwin wasn't. present for required firearms training. sessions and that when he did show up he. wasn't really paying attention now we.

can get into hanagutierrez wreath where. it was her responsibility to double. check what Baldwin was doing to make. sure this was a safe set but focusing on. Baldwin for a second though those would. be the arguments the main arguments. Randy what's your counter to that. I'd rather be making my arguments even. though you're the man in the suit. wearing the headphones behind the. microphone very simple. very very simple number one who the hell. is anybody to say what Alec Baldwin was. what Alec Baldwin was doing during the. training when he was there how does.

anybody know he wasn't paying attention. I could be looking at you right now. looking at the screen and it looks like. I'm paying attention and maybe my mind. is a million miles away well they said. he was on the phone she said he was on. the phone it doesn't matter I could be. beating my class right now and still. giving you my attention nobody knows. what he was paying attention to but. that's not the critical argument the. critical argument is there was a. superseding cause there was an. intervening cause there was someone in. between Mr Baldwin and his finger and.

that is the person the armorer who is. responsible for making sure that there. are no live rounds in that gun Mr. Baldwin is an actor he may have been a. director he may have been a producer but. it was not his responsibility and he had. no reason to believe that there was a. live round in that gun and it's not like. he killed her with a blank because you. can as you know kill someone with a. blank if you are close enough to them he. was nowhere near her there was no reason. for him to believe that there was a live. round in that gun he should not be.

charged with a crime this case belongs. in a civil court it was a tragic. accident let them wipe him out. financially but criminally he does not. belong to be in the caption of a. criminal case well Randy I wish we had. add a little bit more time to debate. this back and forth I want my students. because I get. a classroom. great we never really have an audience. here on sidebar but if everybody if. anybody can hear me this is why Randy is.

such a great lawyer and why you know. don't be surprised if Randy starts going. out to New Mexico and representing Alec. Baldwin for making such good arguments. oh Alex Spyro don't share the spotlight. with no Randy zelen I really appreciate. you taking the time and as this case. progresses I hope we can have you back. on to talk and little get more into the. details of it but Randy thanks for. taking the time and hopefully your class. can give you a round of applause for. your great work. thanks Jesse and that's all we have for. you here on sidebar everybody thank you. so much for joining us please subscribe. on Apple podcast Spotify YouTube.

wherever you get your podcast I'm Jesse. Weber I'll speak to you next time. thank you.