Last week, Alec Baldwin was charged with involuntary manslaughter for the killing of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins for the movie “Rust”, in 2021.

At the moment this is simply an announcement that Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies has decided to proceed with charging Baldwin and weapons supervisor, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, for the act of involuntary manslaughter, and it will go to court.

While the court case appears to be ready to proceed, several other people around the investigation suggest negligence but do refer to it as an accident. Sante Fe County Sheriff Aidan Mendoza and New Mexico’s Office of the Medical Investigator both see this as a tragic accident.

New Mexico’s Occupational Health and Safety Bureau levied a fine against Rust Movie Productions.

Some weapons experts who have had the responsibility for handling weapons in the industry believe that Baldwin has been unfairly accused. There is a reason for this profession’s existence and that is because actors are not weapons experts.

Studio Armorer and Instructor, Dutch Merrick claimed, “I honestly think that the district attorney profoundly misunderstands the process of handling guns on sets, There is no hard-and-fast rule that says an actor must check a gun.”

Legal experts familiar with public trials, especially involving celebrities, argue that while Baldwin may be innocent, he is not helping himself. He is known for his temper tantrums on set and mercurial past, these factors are against him. It also doesn’t help that he has become very defensive about the incident.

“He has some built in defenses with the fact that he wasn’t the person responsible for making sure the gun was cleared and that there were multiple people on set whose job was to ensure everything was safe, said former Los Angeles County Prosecutor Joshua Ritter, “But at the end of the day, the gun was in his hands.”

And he added: “I find it astounding how much Baldwin has talked about this case since the shooting. His attorneys need to sit on his chest until this plays out because the more he opens his mouth the worse he is making it for himself.”

Finally, there are prosecutors who argue that Baldwin is guilty of manslaughter. They claim he is making all sorts of excuses to cover the fact that he killed someone and at the end of the day it was him who failed to take caution when using a gun which led to someone else’s death.

The prosecutors are likely to try and prove that Alec Baldwin is ultimately responsible as the person handling the weapon.

“The prosecution will seek to prove Baldwin had a duty to inspect the gun himself, he knew it had previously discharged, he pulled the trigger despite denying it, that his fingers shouldn’t have been near the trigger, he shouldn’t have cocked the hammer, or some combination of those factors,” said trial lawyer and former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani.

On the other hand Baldwin’s attorneys will likely argue that “he reasonably relied on Halls’s (the armorer) representation that it was a ‘cold gun’. The fact that Halls has already agreed to plead guilty means that he is likely cooperating with the state against Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed”.

Experts also believe that celebrities tend to get more sympathy than regular people in trials, especially when juries are involved. He also has the resources to hire a top notch legal team making the prosecutor’s job more difficult.

Some have claimed that the prosecutor’s decision to file charges is standard and that this is not a case of vindictiveness against a celebrity. It seems the prosecutors are in a no win situation and they appear to be following normal procedures.

Los Angeles personal injury attorney Miguel Custodio, co-founder of Custodio and Dubey LLP, said that he thinks the Santa Fe District Attorney made the right call in bringing charges in the case.

“A lot of things came into play with regard to the decision to charge Baldwin,” said Custodio. “There was a lot of pressure to charge him but I also think they would have charged anybody else in this scenario. The DA’s office was just doing what they would normally do, following protocol and doing their job.”

Over the years, Alec Baldwin has had a very bad reputation for his short temper. We’ve seen and heard recordings of him shouting at his 12 year old daughter saying, “You are a rude, thoughtless little pig. You don’t have the brains or the decency as a human being”.

The actor has also had many physical altercations with the paparazzi. So this negative reputation and his behavior make him vulnerable to people who want to accuse him as guilty.

Currently the charges against Alec Baldwin are still going on and only time can tell what is going to happen. While Baldwin has made many mistakes in the past, perhaps he can grow from this tragic accident and take the opportunity to make a better name for himself.