Alec Baldwin To Be Charged In Deadly ‘Rust’ Shooting. Analysis w/ NY Attorney David Schwartz -WABC 7

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of this news earlier today that actor
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Alec Baldwin will be charged for that
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deadly shooting on the set of his movie
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rust now sadly this is nowhere near the
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first time somebody has lost their life
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on a movie set here in the U.S since
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1990 it's happened at least 43 times and
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on top of that more than 150 people have
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suffered life-altering injuries while
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filming but far more rare are there
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circumstances we're talking about right
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now with charges as serious as
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involuntary manslaughter the nature of
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that crime varies from state to state
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Although our investigative reporter
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Kristen Thorne sat down with defense
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attorney and legal expert David Schwartz
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earlier today to better understand
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exactly what we're talking about with
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the magnitude of the charges
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first I want to get your reaction to
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this charge today the news of this
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charge
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well I'm
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entirely surprised the
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the fact-based charge and and there was
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a long investigation and I think the
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prosecutors could have gone either way
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they could have not charged Alec Baldwin
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but they also had enough negligence in
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this case and that's the standard is a
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negligent standard where they where they
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created a high enough bar to bring
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criminal charges let's explain to people
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what involuntary manslaughter is I'm
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familiar with that because of what I do
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you're familiar with that what does that
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mean
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sure you know in New York it's it's
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different than New Mexico so in New
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Mexico
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the theory is where there's a lawful
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activity going on at that time but there
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was negligence involved with the
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activity meaning that a reasonable
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person would not have acted the way Alec
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Baldwin did a reasonable person would
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have taken other precautions before
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firing the weapon so
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um you know so it's a different standard
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so it's that reasonable person's
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standard and the fact that he was
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handling a gun involves an enhancement
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so the enhancement uh brings it up to a
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potential of five years in jail the
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regular involuntary manslaughter charge
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is a year and a half speaking of jail
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prison time do you think he's going to
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do any
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I don't think so if he does do jail time
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it'll be minimal jail time uh either
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this case is going to have a disposition
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where there's a plea bargain and Alec
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Baldwin will have to plead guilty to a
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crime and and then that would involve
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probably little to no jail or he's going
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to go to trial and face the maximum of
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five years in jail we'll see what
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happens if he goes to trial it'll be one
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of those Blockbuster trials that's for
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sure but there's a good chance that this
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case could settle uh before that point
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his attorney called this a quote
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terrible miscarriage of Justice what do
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you think
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if I were his attorney I would say the
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same exact thing I think Alec Baldwin
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has a lot of arguments I think Alec
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Baldwin has the argument that this is
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just a horrible horrible accident that
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took place but there was no negligence
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on his part and if there was no
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negligence on his part why should he be
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charged he's claiming that he had no
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idea and would have no idea that there
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could be live ammunition in that gun as
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opposed to the prosecutors are saying
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wait a second you should have known that
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this was a dangerous situation there was
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a danger involved in this whole episode
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there was negligence throughout there
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was cutting of corners and they feel
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they have enough evidence to show that
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Alec Baldwin was negligent so his
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attorney is going to argue look this is
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a civil case not a criminal case and the
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civil case was already
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um uh you know the civil case uh has had
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a disposition already
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what do you think one thing that's
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bothered me I don't know if it's
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bothered you is how did that bullet end
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up in that gun in the first place
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doesn't that seem to be kind of really
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an issue here
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it's a huge issue and the prosecutors
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need to explain that issue because you
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would think if they had a person that
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actually put the live round in that gun
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well aren't we talking a little bit more
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about voluntary manslaughter and maybe
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even murder aren't we talking about that
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if somebody takes a gun that's going to
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be used on a set and instead of putting
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blanks in knowingly puts in live
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ammunition I think we're more on the
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murder realm so it leads me to believe
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that they don't have that that the
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prosecutors have not figured out how
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that live rounds got into that gun and
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if it goes to trial I don't think it
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will either but if it does that will
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obviously be a huge discussion
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absolutely I mean if you're the defense
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attorney just saying you know where
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where's the proof like who put this live
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live live bullet in this gun certainly
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Alec Baldwin did not because he's not
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being charged with that so you know I I
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think the prosecutors have a lot of
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barriers to overcome in this case I
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think the defense does have a viable
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case but so does the prosecution it's
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one of those close calls which makes
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this case a very interesting case and
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it's very fact specific and it could be
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based on many different nuances that we
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don't know about right now yeah because
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if it goes to trial that is not going to
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be a good look for law enforcement and
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prosecutors here that they have not been
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able to pinpoint who did that because
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the really lucky person here is whoever
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put that bullet in that gun it didn't do
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it by itself it didn't walk into the
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chamber and into the gun someone did it
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and I am still very curious and and
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think that person needs to be held
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account as well
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Kristen that sounded like an opening
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statement right there a hundred percent
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a hundred percent that that is what the
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defense is going to argue but we don't
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know what's happening right now right is
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the investigation over who knows Kristen
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we may see somebody charged with putting
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that bullet in the chamber so we don't
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know what's about to come next but I'm
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led to believe at least by these charges
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today that they don't have that person
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and they're they're going strictly on a
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negligence standard as it goes to Alec
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Baldwin what he should have known did he
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act like a reasonable person did he
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exercise the reasonable amount of care
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that he should have in that situation
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when handling a gun
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if you were his attorney right now or
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maybe you can give us some insight what
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are they talking about right now
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well first they're talking about
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shutting him up okay he can't do any
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more interviews he can't go out in the
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Press he needs to stop talking because
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everything he says could be used against
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them at this point and before this point
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so that's the first thing the second
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thing is they're trying to get as much
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information from him as possible but I'm
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sure they have their own team of
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investigators right now who are
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conducting uh their own interviews their
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own analysis and their own investigation
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so their own investigation could come up
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big in this case as well
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well thank you so much I hope you'll
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stay in touch with us we know that this
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is the charges are formally you know are
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going to be announced later this month
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and so we know that this will still be
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be going on so thank you so much for
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being with us
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thank you Kristen
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coming up next on the Eyewitness News
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countdown uh discussion about what is on
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the line when it comes to raising the
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federal debt limit in the United States
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