Rust Shooting Charges Against Alec Baldwin. Analysis w/ NY Criminal Defense Attorney David Schwartz on CBS 2 NY

Youtube transcript
0:00 all right this is a complicated and 0:01 emotional case here to help us 0:03 understand the legal development is New 0:04 York criminal defense attorney David 0:06 Schwartz who you just saw in that piece
0:07 a second ago by Ali Bauman and filmmaker 0:10 Laura Pellegrini to give us a little 0:11 perspective thank you both for taking a 0:13 few minutes to join us here thank you 0:14 David I'm going to start with you here 0:16 um explain the charges and why two 0:17 counts of involuntary manslaughter 0:20 yeah so you have two counts of 0:22 involuntary manslaughter which is really 0:24 based on this negligent standard did did 0:27 uh Alec Baldwin act as a reasonable 0:30 person in would act in that situation so 0:33 you have the one based on a negligence 0:36 standard and then there's an enhancement 0:38 where it's more of a reckless standard 0:41 but it's because he's handling a gun so 0:44 it's engaging in a lawful act so he was 0:48 engaging in a lawful act but he was 0:50 acting with this sort of extreme 0:52 negligence and because he was handling a 0:55 gun in that act that's where the 0:57 enhancement comes so the jury will be 0:59
given either the regular involuntary 1:02 both the involuntary manslaughter and 1:04 the enhancement and they'll have to 1:06 choose between the two the regular and 1:08 voluntary has a year and a half Max the 1:11
enhancement is five years now David also 1:13 the the New Mexico chief medical 1:15 investigator linked to the manner of 1:17 death as a quote accident now what will 1:18 the prosecutor have to do to prove in 1:21
order for there to be a conviction here 1:23 well it is an accident that's where you 1:26 have this fine line between is this a 1:28 civil case 1:31 or Arena so it's an accident I don't 1:34 think anyone is accusing Alec Baldwin of 1:36 intentionally firing the weapon and 1:38 killing this this person so bottom line 1:42 is uh even though it's an accident if if 1:46 the accident happened where Alec Baldwin 1:49 was acting with extreme negligence in 1:51 the entire situation not just the firing 1:54 of the weapon but the entire scene it 1:56 sounds like it was a scene where there 1:58 were multi multitude of negligent acts 2:01 and so if they can find that then Alec 2:03 Baldwin can be guilty and David there 2:05 was a settlement that was already paid 2:06
correct 2:07 right so unusual the civil case was 2:10 settled before the criminal case yeah 2:12 well no one knew there would be a 2:14 criminal case yeah I think that's why 2:15 this was that came as such a surprise
2:16 yesterday when these charges were handed 2:18 down Laura let me bring you in now 2:19 what's the reaction been from the film 2:21 Community following yesterday's 2:23 announcement 2:24 certainly a mixed reaction Chris you 2:26 know um I know the Santa Fe DA office 2:28 has done a really thorough investigation
2:30 independently to try to get to the 2:31 bottom of this this has been going on 2:33 for 16 months 2:35 um it's a blurry line you know Baldwin 2:36 he was a co-producer and he was an actor 2:38 in the project he didn't necessarily 2:41 oversee all aspects of production so he 2:44 chose that very fine line you know I 2:46
think at the end of the day we have to 2:48 ask ourselves did he violate protocol 2:50 and on any set that Stefano defray my 2:52 co-director and I have worked on there's 2:54 a very clear line of command you have a 2:57 prop master who hands the gun to an 2:59 armorer a licensed professional and they 3:01 in turn have to check the firearm to 3:04 make sure that it's a cold gun then it 3:06 gets handed to the assistant director
3:07 and they're tasked with the 3:09 responsibility of declaring a cold gun 3:11 to the actor before they use it so in 3:14 that circumstance you know Alec Baldwin 3:16 his responsibility was to trust the line 3:18 of command that took place on that day 3:20 yeah so let me ask you this this so 3:22 that's your protocol and the prosecutors 3:23 alleged there was a lack of safety 3:25 standards on set in your expertise from 3:27 what you've seen and heard what really 3:29 stood out to you where was The Real 3:31 miscarriage here and Justice of the 3:33 proper gun and the proper you know 3:35 weapon being provided to the proper 3:36 actor at the proper time 3:38 that's a great question you know I think 3:40 it really boils down to the armor I'm 3:43 not entirely sure that that vetting 3:45 process was as thorough as it could have 3:47 been and that might have been for many 3:48 reasons Chris you know from what I 3:50 understand it was a low budget sag indie 3:52 film and under that contract some things 3:54 get lost in in the mix you know they 3:56 tend to slip from the Wayside so there 3:58 there might not have have been protocol 4:00 during pre-production when they were 4:02 doing 4:03 um you know safety training during 4:04 rehearsals also you're not supposed to
4:06 have a gun during rehearsal and secondly 4:08 you're supposed to respect a 20-foot 4:10 rule which judging by the video footage 4:12 of that day I don't necessarily think it 4:14 was respected okay now let me ask you 4:16 both of this question here excuse my 4:18 ignorance on this but this is a movie 4:20 set why is there live rounds of 4:24 ammunition on a movie set well 4:28 the bottom line is it makes no sense and 4:32
that's why the the investigation where 4:34 is the investigation at this point the 4:36 missing the million dollar question here 4:39 is how did a live round get into that 4:41 gun in the first place and how do we not
4:43 know who put that live round into that 4:46 weapon because that is the real guilty 4:48 party and if anyone knowingly 4:49 intentionally put a live round in that 4:52 weapon well that could be a murder case
4:54 that and that's what I don't understand 4:55 I mean as an actor you're on a film set 4:57 why would you even think that there 4:59 would be a live round in there and I 5:01 guess you know that kind of goes to 5:02
exactly what you just said why is live 5:04 ammunition there who put the lobby 5:06 ammunition in that gun that's what they 5:09 really need to get to the bottom of 5:09 David let me know if you guys do this 5:10 there's a third person who the district 5:12 attorney names assistant director David 5:14 Halls now he's taken a plea deal for 5:16 negligent use of a deadly weapon how 5:18 could that impact the charges being 5:20
brought against Baldwin well I'm sure 5:22 he's going to testify you know for that 5:25 uh that guilty plea he may be testifying 5:28 as a witness for the state as well so 5:30 why I'll have to see how that all plays 5:32 out he seems to be the most culpable 5:34 yeah so now you have Alec Baldwin I 5:36 think both of you may have had a case 5:37 that you know maybe Alec Baldwin's not 5:40 that culpable here especially the 5:41 analysis that was just given so it seems 5:44 like this person is much more culpable 5:47 than Alec Baldwin or his co-defendant 5:49 and Laura it's been over a year since 5:51 this tragic event how have safety 5:53 protocols now changed on sets is it now 5:55 one of those things where there's just 5:56 so many different layers before a weapon 5:59 whether it's live or not not that it 6:01 should ever be live is placed in an 6:02 actor's hands yeah absolutely I mean 6:05 listen just to harken back to your point 6:06 under no circumstance should there be 6:08 live rounds on set yeah I just wrapped a 6:11 crime drama with with Steph no defray it
6:13 was co-produced by the Russo Brothers 6:15 um we made sure that we were working 6:17 with a licensed armor and that there 6:19 were absolutely under no circumstances 6:20 live rounds on set I think you know it 6:23 took a senseless tragedy to discover 6:24 that there are alternative options for 6:27 for firearms being put in films it's 6:28 something that you can settle in 6:30 post-production you you can use CGI 6:32 gunfire you know so it it has led to 6:36 other outcomes in that sense and David 6:38 I'm gonna give you the last 15 seconds 6:39 here what are the next steps for those 6:40 involved in this the next steps are that 6:43 there'll be an arraignment and we're 6:44 going to go through the discovery 6:46 process and there could be please and if 6:48 there's not if there's no plea in this 6:49 case then we're going to see a 6:50
blockbuster trial unbelievable all right 6:52 David Schwartz this is Lauren Pellegrini 6:54 thank you both for being here greatly 6:55 appreciate it good to see the two of you 6:57 thank you all right stay with cbs2 for
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