Originally Posted by Dante84:
From what I gathered:
- The armorer was provided real bullets that looked identical or very similar to the blanks.
- The armorer loaded the gun and eventually it gets to Baldwin.
- Baldwin is on set, practicing a “cross-draw” and the gun fires, killing one and injuring another.
- They decide to prosecute the armorer (is found guilty) and Baldwin for being reckless.
During the Baldwin trial, Thursday, it comes to light that the armorer gave the bullets to her father, who gave them to a family friend in law enforcement who took them to the authorities.This should have been checked into evidence for both the armorer and Baldwin cases.The prosecution made a determination that the bullets weren’t similar looking enough and told the underlings to log the evidence under a separate case, effectively concealing it from the defense in both cases. One might even say they “buried” it.
When it was brought to light, one of the prosecutors who was previously unaware told the team to dismiss the case, and when they didn’t, she resigned.
The judge sent the jury home on Friday, and they spent the day reviewing the facts around the bullets and how they were checked in. They even looked at the bullets and apparently they were pretty similar, meaning that if the defense had known this, they could have created reasonable doubt about the charges.
The judge was like fuck you guys, dismissed.
From the beginning, the prosecution in this whole thing has seemed wildly incompetent. [Reply]
Heard this on the radio earlier and couldn't believe they had their story straight.
That's either some seriously shady shit or just dumb fuckery all the way around. You'd think every item surrounding the guns and ammo would have been collected and tagged right there on set. How was it allowed to be passed around to who knows who before eventually going to someone who put it into some mystery evidence location.
Combine this with some of the other cases going on around the country, like the young thug case in Fulton County Georgia, and you have to start wondering just how corrupted our systems are. [Reply]
Originally Posted by ghak99:
Ignorance is no excuse when it comes to firearms.
Countless other actors train extensively. Even Will Smith's cucked ass went over the top to make sure he is educated enough to be doing the job safely. I honestly can't believe the insurance companies let actors who haven't trained to proficiency handle them on set, armorer or not.
I don't believe it was a fake gun either, but I can't remember the exact details from the last time I read about it.
This has happened twice in how many thousands upon thousands of movie sets?
There's no sense creating some kind of fantasy situation like Tropic Thunder but in real life [Reply]
Originally Posted by ghak99:
So all those other actors, who actually take the job seriously, are just being too careful?
If you hold a gun, you are responsible for what happens when it goes off. This is common sense.
Where's the line though? My understanding is that he believed it was a prop gun that wasn't capable of firing real bullets. So should all fake guns be treated like real guns? Or just ones that feel realistic? High school plays sometimes use fake guns. Should everyone in those productions be required to take gun safety courses? How about young kids with pop guns?
It just seems far more straightforward to me to hire someone who is an expert in firearms to ensure everyone is safe. If Baldwin has any fault here, it seems to me that he hired a shitty armorer, not that he should have believed fake guns might shoot real bullets. [Reply]
I was reading all these questions put forth and kept thinking "Why don't you just read the link"?
And then I realized I had not provided it. Apologies for that.
The prosecution was really corrupt. And due to this malfeasance it brings into question every other case involving this/these prosecutors. I like the guy as an actor but don't know or really care much about him or his politics or any other personal belief he may have.
Guy is lucky he has the resources to continue to live a good life. Cause this is the stuff of nightmares for regular folks. [Reply]
Originally Posted by WilliamTheIrish:
I was reading all these questions put forth and kept thinking "Why don't you just read the link"?
And then I realized I had not provided it. Apologies for that.
The prosecution was really corrupt. And due to this malfeasance it brings into question every other case involving this/these prosecutors. I like the guy as an actor but don't know or really care much about him or his politics or any other personal belief he may have.
Guy is lucky he has the resources to continue to live a good life. Cause this is the stuff of nightmares for regular folks.
And if they would pull that shit in a case with this much publicity how many other times have they screwed someone else. [Reply]
Originally Posted by stumppy:
And if they would pull that shit in a case with this much publicity how many other times have they screwed someone else.
Not a lawyer. But I would imagine the prosecutor's office comes with a TON of pressure. Yes, I'm certain there are folks in that position that are looking to make a name for themselves.
To me It's a razors edge kind of job. The public hates you when you DON'T prosecute (the shooter charges as a juvenile in the parade shooting) and end up hating you when you DO prosecute.
Imperative to maintain integrity throughout. Or you get this situation. [Reply]
Originally Posted by RedinTexas:
He was the the producer, or otherwise known as the guy at the top. He was also the actor that held the weapon, or otherwise known as the guy at the bottom. As the guy at the top he was responsible for everything on the set. If the armorer was a problem, it was also his problem. As the guy at the bottom, he pointed the weapon and pulled the trigger.
It strikes me as the same kind of thing as committing perjury by making 2 different assertions that cannot both be true. Unless I'm mistaken, the prosecution doesn't have to prove which one is false, but simply that the 2 cannot both be true.
Yes, Baldwin was a producer on this film, but you're woefully ignorant on a producer's role, especially in this case.
Producers don't typically oversee the production. That's the job of the show runner and/or line producer, along with the assistant directors to a certain extent, and below the line, it's the job of the department heads.
Baldwin was a producer in the sense that he had his own skin in it, ala money, and so he gets a producer credit. But his primary job in this film was to act.
I've worked on hundreds of film/tv shows. All kinds, from 100 million dollar features, to ultra low budget. Rust was a low budget feature, and along with that, it was being shot on location in NM. You're not gonna get the best, most experienced people to work on stuff like that, you're just not. So it's not a surprise to me that mistakes were made.
But here's the biggest mistake. Live ammunition being within a million miles of this set. That is something that should NEVER happen, and how on earth that happened is massive negligence on the armorer and/or props department.
I understand how everyone thinks of firearm safety in the real world, but this is not the real world. Do you think when someone is disarming a bomb on the silver screen, that the thing is a real bomb? If someone drops a hand grenade, do you really think they need to hit the deck? Live ammo is NEVER on set ever under any circumstances. Period.
Baldwin's been doing this shit for over 40 years, do you honestly not think the guy doesn't know what he's doing when handed a gun on set? He was 100% not at fault. I've worked with the guy, and yeah, he can be an insufferable prick. You might not like him, you might not like his politics, but this tragedy was 100% not his fault. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Kiimo:
What is sad is this is going to kick off a string of cases appealing and the possibility exists that an actual guilty person will go free.
There's already talk that the armorer might get off now as a result of yesterday's ruling, and I'm sorry, that young woman has no fucking business being on a working film set in any capacity. She's incompetent. [Reply]