NY Criminal Defense Attorney David Schwartz on 1010 WINS Talking About Alex Baldwin Charges.

Youtube transcript
0:00 joining us live on newsline is David 0:02 Schwartz who has worked as a New York 0:04 criminal defense attorney he is also a 0:07 former prosecutor David good to have you 0:09 here this morning I'm curious about this 0:12 I want to play you this clip in which 0:14 Alec Baldwin was asked this in the past 0:18 take a quick listen do you never pull 0:19 the trigger no no no no no I would never 0:22 point the gun that I'm going to pull a 0:23 trigger at them never okay so that's 0:25 what he said in that interview with 0:26 George Stephanopoulos today we find out 0:29 he is going to be charged with 0:30 involuntary manslaughter is that to say 0:33 prosecutors believe that he did indeed 0:35 pull the trigger or what 0:37 well well it doesn't necessarily mean 0:40 that he that he uh believed he pulled 0:42 the trigger first of all it was a very 0:44 fast set of events but the involuntary 0:47 portion of the manslaughter means that 0:50 Alec Baldwin at least they're accusing 0:52 Alec Baldwin of handling this gun 0:54 without you caution and circum 0:58 circumspection so with which is more 1:00 like a criminal negligence concept where 1:04 he didn't act as a reasonable person 1:06 would in that situation in handling the 1:09 weapon and safeguarding that weapon so 1:12 they might have some facts where they 1:15 have they have concluded that 1:17 involuntary manslaughter is the right 1:19 charge for him so so if you're his 1:23 defense attorney then what do you argue
1:25 do they say well look you know they 1:28 handed me the gun you know how am I 1:29 supposed to know right you're that's 1:32 exactly what you're arguing you know 1:34 this is a horrible horrible accident a 1:37
tragic accident but my client out 1:41 Baldwin has no culpability whatsoever he 1:44 did not pull the trigger he did act as a 1:47 reasonable person and sometimes in life 1:50 horrible things happen accidents happen
1:53 and that's why this should be handled as 1:55 a civil case which it was the civil case 1:57 was was settled but it should not enter 2:00 the arena of criminal case and that's 2:03 where you have the tug of war between
2:05 criminal defense attorneys and 2:06 prosecutors because prosecutors uh they 2:09 they have concluded something different 2:11 that that this uh does enter the word 2:13 world of criminal culpability and it's 2:17 more than just an accident that there 2:19 was some degree of recklessness involved 2:22 on the part of Alec Baldwin and that's 2:24 going to be litigated in court right so 2:27 the special prosecutor David uh had this 2:29 quote this morning saying if any one of 2:32 these three people including Alec 2:33 Baldwin had done their job that was the 2:37 quote had done their job Helena Hutchins 2:39 would be alive today it's that simple 2:42 but it doesn't sound that simple again 2:45 what's the defense to that in terms of 2:47 what Baldwin's job was supposed to be 2:50 well and what the prosecutor means by 2:53 that is that that Baldwin was acting in 2:56 a reckless Manner and if he wasn't 2:58 acting in a reckless manner if he took 3:00 all the precautions if he looked to see 3:02 if the gun was loaded if he examined the 3:05 gun you know and and and it you know who 3:08 looks up to the jury to see what a 3:10 reasonable person would do Under the 3:12
same set of circumstances that's where 3:15 the push and the pull comes it's a very 3:17 interesting case it's very highly 3:20 um reliable on the the specific facts of 3:24 what exactly happened and look the 3:26 prosecutors have done their 3:27 investigation and they have concluded 3:30 that there are enough facts to support 3:32 this charge and we'll just have to see 3:34 how that all plays out in court but 3:37 certainly out involved into the criminal 3:38 case has many many defenses and and 3:41 again you land at the same defense that 3:44 this is a horrible accident but Alec 3:46 Baldwin acted reasonably so that's what 3:49
you're basically going to argue as his 3:51 defense attorney right so David do we 3:53 see this uh go to a a public trial is 3:56 this something that's going to be um you 3:58 know all over Court TV and more or what
4:01 well your your guess is as good as mine 4:03 if if there's certainly uh room here for 4:07 a plea to be had and I'm sure the plea 4:10 uh could involve minimal jail time uh so 4:14 certainly that's going to be a 4:15
possibility here there's there's a lot 4:18 of room for negotiation but if the 4:20 negotiations don't work then the case is 4:23 going to go to trial and and you know 4:25 Alec Baldwin has a giant ego and he may 4:28 just take this all the way to trial who 4:30 knows your your guess is as good as mine 4:32 at this point right I guess we'll find 4:34 out together David but um as for this 4:37 charge this typically comes with what 18 4:41
months in prison if convicted yes yes 4:44 under the New Mexico law there is uh 4:47 there's an enhancement involved it could 4:49 be five years but generally speaking I I 4:51 believe it's 18 months I I haven't read 4:54 the sentencing charts yet in New Mexico 4:56 right and if people take please in a 4:59 case like this a matter of months in 5:03 jail time or no jail time again I know 5:05 we're we're all just trying to get the 5:07 particulars of New Mexico right right in 5:10 an involuntary manslaughter situation 5:13 where look the the Alec Baldwin has 5:16 settled the civil case uh in this type 5:19 of situation you can see a non-jail 5:22
disposition with probation certainly a 5:25 felony plea and maybe some other 5:28 attachments restitution which seems to 5:31 have been covered in the civil case 5:32 fines 5:34 things like that but there can be some 5:36 jail time too 5:37 one last quick thing if you were his 5:40 lawyer Alec Baldwin would you tell him
5:41 not to give any interviews at this point 5:43 absolutely no interviews no public 5:46 statements uh and you know I understand 5:49 there's the court of public opinion but 5:52 in a criminal case there's just too much 5:53 on the line to allow your client to be 5:56 out there uh uh giving interviews David 6:00 Schwartz a New York criminal defense 6:01 attorney and former prosecutor David 6:04 thank you so much 6:05 thank you it was a pleasure thank you 6:07 very much 6:09 the news watch never stops 6:12 this is 10 10 wins at 92 3 FM you give 6:17 us 22 minutes we'll give you the world 6:20 [Music]