One definition of involuntary manslaughter is: The unintentional killing of a person as a result of a reckless or negligent act, or as a result of the commission of a non-felony crime.
The movie scene required pointing the gun at someone and pulling the trigger. There were safety protocols in place to make sure the gun wasn't loaded. There were people specifically designated to make sure there wasn't loaded ammo in the gun or on the set. The actor (Baldwin) was handed a gun and told it was safe. He went through the motions of acting out the scene and in the process the gun fired.
Where did he act reckless? He was doing his job by acting out a scene where he was supposed to act out shooting another character with a movie prop gun.
Where was he negligent? He relied on the supporting staff to load the gun and they said it was safe. He had no reason to believe live ammo was in the gun or on the set.
What crime was he committing when the gun went off? None, he was acting on a movie set.
Now, civil liability is another matter. As one of the producers and executives of the production he had a managerial role in making sure all laws, rules and codes of safety were complied with. If they weren't he's guilty of not completely doing his job but the actual event itself was an accident. An accident caused by a culture of safety violations (firearms and otherwise) but an accident none the less. That makes him civilly liable but in my uneducated non-lawer opinion he didn't commit a crime.
In order to find him guilty of a crime the prosecution is going to have to prove he acted either recklessly (he didn't), he acted negligently (he didn't) or he was in the commission of a crime when the accident happened (he wasn't). Again, I cannot stand Baldwin. He's a first class jerk and blowhard. Neither of which are elements of the crimes he's been accused of. He will be acquitted.
Whether or not he should have personally checked the ammo to make sure it was blank ammo is an entirely separate question. I would have and probably most of you would have but we're gun nuts. What's normal protocol for those of us that routinely handle firearms is different from what an actor or non-firearms enthusiast might do. In a perfect world they would treat guns like we do but that's why they have armorers on the set to prevent this stuff. Whether or not the armorer was there and/or doing their job is a valid discussion but that's not the responsibility of the actor.
Regardless,
A soul of this world, a wife, a mother, a professional was killed by a negligent act with a firearm.
It comes down to this: Safe Firearms instruction that has been taught for generations, and not followed.
When I received my first gun, a .410 single shot at 9 years old, it was drilled into my head, by my father and grandfather: never point a gun at something you don't wish to destroy or kill. Period.
"You are ultimately responsible with this gun, when that shell or bullet is fired. You cannot take that back."
If Hollywood (generic term) would take that into account, and train people, none of this BS blame shifting would fly. I cannot fathom, in my mind, that ' well they (? who) said the gun was cold"
I have always thought that Alec Baldwin, is ultimately responsible for pointing and shooting a gun that killed Halyna Hutchins, and wounded Joel Souza. He damn well should have practiced safe gun handling. Know and check the difference between, DUMMY rounds, Blanks and Live Rounds.
I don't care if he is convicted criminally. Needs to be adjudicated as liable, for all the world to see and note.
I just hope that the Hutchin's and Souza families collect in civil lawsuits, such that Alec Baldwin will never be the same.
Their families won't.
