Aug. 16, 2025

"HIDDEN BULLETS SINK BALDWIN'S TRIAL: Prosecutor Becomes Witness in Her Own Case as Judge Drops Eight Words That Set Actor Free"

Show Notes
Transcript

Reid Carter details the legal circus following Halyna Hutchins' death. Armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed got 18 months after jurors convicted her in under three hours. Baldwin's trial imploded on day three when prosecutors were caught hiding bullets in the wrong evidence box. Prosecutor Kari Morrissey took the stand in her own case, insisting the hidden rounds weren't relevant. Judge Marlowe Sommer disagreed, dismissing charges with prejudice using eight words that made Baldwin sob: "Your motion to dismiss with prejudice is granted." The prosecutor's Brady violation means Baldwin can never be retried, leaving justice unserved and Hollywood unchanged.

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WEBVTT

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Callaroga Shark Media. Good morning, I'm Read Carter, and welcome

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back to celebrity Trials. Yesterday we walked through the tragedy

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how Helena Hutchins died when Alec Baldwin pointed a gun

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at her and pulled the trigger. How six live rounds

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ended up on a movie set. How an inexperienced armorer

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and a rushed assistant director created the perfect storm for death.

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Today we're talking about the circus that followed the armorer

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who got eighteen months, the prosecutor who hid evidence, the

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judge who had enough, and the movie star who walked

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free because the people trying to convict him broke more

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rules than he did. This is what happens when ego

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meets evidence, When prosecutors want the big conviction so badly

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they forget the basic rules, when winning becomes more important

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than justice. Spoiler alert, nobody wins the armorer's trial. February

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twenty first, twenty twenty four, Hannah Gutiera's read goes on

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trial for involuntary manslaughter. The prosecution's case is devastating. They

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show photos of her pointing guns at people on set,

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at herself, at a child actor. They show text messages

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where she admits she was overwhelmed, undertrained, scared. They show

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the jury a young woman who was in completely over

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her head, who took a job she wasn't qualified for

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because she needed the money, who was doing two jobs

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because the production was too cheap to hire two people,

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who didn't check the bullets, because she was rushed, stressed,

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and nobody was backing her up. Prosecutor Carrie Morrissey doesn't

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pull punches. This is not a case where Hannah gutieris

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made one mistake. This case is about constant, never ending

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safety failures that resulted in the death of a human being.

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The defense tries to blame everyone else. Baldwin went off script,

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the producers created unsafe conditions, someone else brought the live rounds.

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She's a scapegoat, the little person taking the fall for

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the powerful. But here's the thing about being the armorer.

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The buck stops with you. Every bullet is your responsibility,

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every gun is your domain. You're the last line of

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defense between the actors and death. March sixth, twenty twenty four,

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after less than three hours of deliberation, the jury convicts

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guilty of involuntary manslaughter, not guilty of tampering with evidence,

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though she definitely ditched that cocaine from her jail cell.

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Awaiting sentencing, she calls jurors idiots and assholes. She says

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she wants Baldwin to go to jail two. She refuses

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to testify at his trial. April fifteenth, twenty twenty four.

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Sentencing day, Judge Mary Marlowe Summer doesn't hold back. You

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alone turned a safe weapon into a lethal weapon. But

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for you, miss Hutchet would be alive, a husband would

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have his partner, and a little boy would have his mother.

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Eighteen months the maximum sentence. She'll serve thirteen months before

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being paroled. In May twenty twenty five, the twenty four

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year old armorer becomes the first person held criminally responsible

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for Helena's death, but not the last, or so everyone thought.

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Let's rewind to January twenty twenty three, first time Baldwin

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gets charged with involuntary manslaughter. The prosecutors are already screwing up.

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They charge him under a firearm enhancement statute that didn't

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exist when the shooting happened. His lawyer's pounce the enhancement,

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which would have meant a mandatory five years gets dropped.

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Then the special prosecutor, Andrea Reeb, turns out to be

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a sitting state legislator. Can't do both jobs conflict of interest.

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She resigns. Then the district Attorney, Mary Carmack Altwey's steps

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aside musical chairs in the prosecutor's office. April twenty twenty three,

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the charges are dropped entirely. The new prosecutors say they

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need more time, more investigation. Baldwin's lawyers declare victory, but

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it's not over. October twenty twenty three, the prosecutors go

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to a grand jury. They get a new indictment. Baldwin's

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charged again. His lawyer's file motion after motion. The gun

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was destroyed during FBI testing. The prosecution is vindictive, the

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grand jury was misled. Motion denied, motion denied, motion denied.

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Trial is set for July twenty twenty four. July tenth,

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twenty twenty four. Opening statements. Prosecutor Or Linda Johnson comes

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out swinging. When someone plays make believe with a real

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gun in a real life workplace, and while playing make

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believe with that gun violates the cardinal rules of firearm safety,

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people's lives are endangered, and someone could be killed. Defense

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attorney Alec Spiro counters these cardinal rules are not cardinal rules.

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On a movie set, Alec Baldwin was an actor acting

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playing the role of Harlan Rust. He committed no crime.

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Day one. Day two, the prosecution is building their case.

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Witnesses testify, evidence is presented. Baldwin sits there, stone faced,

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occasionally taking notes. Then July twelfth, twenty twenty four, Day three,

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everything implodes. The bullets in the wrong box. Here's where

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it gets absolutely insane. Earlier in the year after Gutierrez

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Reid's conviction, a man named Troy Teski shows up at

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the Sheriff's office. Teski is friends with thel Reed, Hannah's father,

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a legendary Hollywood armorer. Teski has bullets live rounds, says

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they might be connected to the Rust case, might be

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from the same batch that killed Helena. What do the

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cops do? What does prosecutor carry Morrissey tell them to

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do They file them under a different case number, They

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put them in a different box. They don't tell Baldwin's lawyers.

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That's called a Brady violation. You have to turn over

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all evidence to the defense, all of it, even the

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stuff that might help them, especially the stuff that might

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help them. Baldwin's lawyers find out about these bullets during

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the trial on day three. They're furious. They file a

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motion to dismiss. Judge marlow Summer sends the jury home.

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She holds a hearing, and here's where it gets even crazier.

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Morrissey takes the stand. The prosecutor becomes a witness in

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her own case. She testifies the bullets weren't relevant, they

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didn't match, they had no evidentiary value. It was a

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wild goose chase. The judge opens the evidence envelope right

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there in court, examines the bullets herself. Three of them

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look like they could match the live rounds from the

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rust set. Morris He kept saying they weren't relevant. The

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judge disagreed. Back in a moment, Welcome back to celebrity trials.

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I'm Red Carter, and we're watching Alec Baldwin's case fall

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apart in real time. The eight words. July twelfth, twenty

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twenty four, four pm. Judge Marlowe Summer has hard enough.

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She's visibly angry. The prosecution has been playing games, hiding evidence,

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making unilateral decisions about what the defense gets to see

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the state's discovery violation has injected a needless, incurable delay

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into the jury trial. Dismissal with prejudice is warranted to

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ensure the integrity of the judicial system and the efficient

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admitministration of justice. But here are the eight words that matter.

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Your motion to dismiss with prejudice is granted with prejudice.

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That means it's over forever. The state can't retry Baldwin,

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can't refile charges, can't appeal done. Baldwin breaks down, sobbing.

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His wife, Hilaria is crying. His lawyers are hugging him.

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Three years of this hanging over his head, and it's

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over because the prosecutors couldn't play by the rules. Outside

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the courthouse, Morrissey is defiant. I believe the importance of

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the evidence was misconstrued by the defense attorneys, but I

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have to respect the court's decision. Misconstrued. You hid bullets

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in a different case file. You made a unilateral decision

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that evidence wasn't relevant. You violated one of the most

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fundamental rules of criminal prosecution. And the other prosecutor, Erlinda Johnson,

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she resigned mid trial, just walked out when she realized

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what Morrissey had done. She quit rather than be part

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of it. The aftermath, Baldwin walks free, no Instagram post,

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no victory lap. His lawyers tell him to shut up

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and be grateful. Gutierras reads lawyers immediately file for her release.

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If the prosecutors hid evidence from Baldwin, they probably hid

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it from her too. The judge denies it. She's still

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in prison as we speak. The civil cases continue. Helena's

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family in Ukraine is suing. Her husband settled his lawsuit.

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He's now a producer on Rust, which actually finished filming. Yeah,

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they completed the movie with Baldwin in Montana. The movie

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that killed Helena Hutchins will probably be released. People will

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watch it looking for the scene the church, the moment

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where it would have happened, grief tourism at twenty four

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frames per second. Who's responsible? Let's cut through the bullshit.

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Everyone failed Helena Hutchins. Hannah Gutia's Red failed her by

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not checking the gun properly, by being overwhelmed and underprepared,

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by letting live rounds onto the set. She's serving eighteen

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months for that failure. Dave Halls failed her by not

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doing his job by yelling cold gun without properly checking.

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He got six months probation. The producers, including Baldwin, failed

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her by hiring an inexperienced armorer, by making her do

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two jobs, by prioritizing speed and budget over safety, by

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ignoring warning signs like previous misfires. Baldwin the actor failed

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her by pointing a real gun at a real person

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and pulling the trigger, by violating every rule of gun

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safety by treating a deadly weapon like a prop. The

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prosecutors failed her by being so eager to convict Baldwin

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that they broke the rules by hiding evidence, by turning

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her death into a circus. The system failed her by

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letting Baldwin walk on a technicality, not because he was innocent,

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because the prosecutors cheated. What changes After Brandon Lee died

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in nineteen ninety three, Hollywood said never again. They implemented

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new safety protocols, hired more armorers, took it seriously for

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a while. Then budgets got tight streaming needed content producers

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needed to cut costs. Safety became optional again. After Helena died,

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Hollywood said never again again. Some productions switched to rubber

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guns and CGI muzzle flashes. Some banned real weapons entirely

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for a while. But there's another Western filming right now

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in New Mexico, with real guns with blanks and dummy rounds,

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with an armorer who swears it safe. Because Hollywood never

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really learns, because looking cool is more important than being safe,

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because audiences want authenticity, even if it kills people. Here's

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what kills me about this case. He know if Baldwin

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was guilty, not legally guilty the case was dismissed, but

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actually guilty morally guilty responsible. The prosecutors robbed us of

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that verdict by hiding those bullets. By playing games, they

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made it impossible to know. The jury never got to deliberate,

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never got to weigh the evidence, never got to speak

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for Helena. Would they have convicted? Maybe he pointed the gun,

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he pulled the trigger. He was the producer who created

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the unsafe conditions. Would they have acquitted? Maybe he was

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told it was cold. He trusted the professionals. Actors point

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guns at cameras all the time. Will never know because

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Carrie Morrissey thought she was smarter than everyone else because

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she decided what evidence mattered. Because she forgot that justice

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requires playing by the rules, even when you're sure the

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defendant is guilty. Alec Baldwin is back to making movies,

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back on Saturday Night Live, occasionally back to his life.

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Hannah Gutiera's read is in prison. She'll be out soon,

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but she'll never work as an armorer again. Dave Hall's

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is somewhere living with what he did or didn't do.

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Joel Susa survived but rarely talks about it. Imagine having

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a bullet pass through your shoulder that killed the person

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standing next to you. Matthew Hutchins is raising his son alone.

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He's also a producer on Rust Now, which is either

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the healthiest or most messed up thing I've ever heard.

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And Helena. Helena is gone, buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

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Her grave probably has fresh flowers from film students who

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see her as a cautionary tale, a reminder that in Hollywood,

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you're only as safe as the cheapest person hired to

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protect you. Two days we've spent on this, two days

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on how a single bullet destroyed so many lives, not

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in war, not in crime, on a movie set, during

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a rehearsal for a scene that wasn't even being filmed.

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Helena Hutchins died for nothing. Her death accomplished nothing. The

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movie will come out, people will watch it or not,

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and then it'll disappear into the streaming void. But her

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death should mean something. It should mean never hiring unqualified

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people for life or death jobs. Never rushing safety to

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save money, never pointing real guns at real people, never

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assuming someone else did their job, Never again until the

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next time. I'm read Carter and this is celebrity trials.

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Check your guns, question authority, and if a prosecutor hides evidence,

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hide a lawyer