On July 10th, 2024, actor Alec Baldwin found himself seated at the defense table in a courthouse in Santa

Fay, New Mexico.

A few years prior, on October 21st, 2021, Alec was filming for an upcoming movie,

an independent Western called Rust. According to court testimony,

while filming a scene, a gun that was supposed to have dummy rounds in it

instead contained a live round.

And when it went off, it tragically killed 42-year-old cinematographer

Elena Hutchins and injured the film's director Joel Susa.

Alec Baldwin had been the one holding the gun.

I take the gun out and then I take it as it clears as a barrel clears the

holding, turning and cock the gun over here.

I turn and cock the gun goes off.

After the shooting, an investigation began with investigators trying to figure out how exactly

this could have happened. Among the many questions, perhaps one of the most important, was,

how did live rounds make their way onto the set?

In episode 272, we covered the trial of the film's armorer, the person responsible for handling the weapons on set, 24 year old Hannah Gutierrez Reed.

Hannah was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter

and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

The film's first assistant director, David Hall's, pleaded no contest to negligent use of a deadly weapon.

He was sentenced to six months' unsupervised probation.

Alec Baldwin was also charged with involuntary manslaughter,

and his trial started just a few weeks ago as of this recording,

...