Prosecutors have received a second expert analysis of the revolver fired in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer by Alec Baldwin on the set of a Western film in New Mexico, as they weigh whether to refile charges against the actor.
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Special prosecutors dismissed an involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin in April, saying they were informed the gun might have been modified before the shooting and malfunctioned. They commissioned a new analysis of the gun, along with other weapons and ammunition from the set of the movie, “Rust,” which moved filming from New Mexico to Montana.
The new gun analysis from experts in ballistics and forensic testing based in Arizona and New Mexico relied on replacement parts to reassemble the gun fired by Baldwin — after parts of the pistol were broken during earlier testing by the FBI. The new report examines the gun and markings it left on a spent cartridge to conclude that the trigger had to have been pulled or depressed.
Replacing parts and then testing the gun? I'm pretty certain that any number of expert witnesses will blow holes through that report large enough to have flown the Mriya through it. A good lawyer will almost certainly argue that the report is inadmissible, as by replacing parts, it's not the gun in the condition that it was when the shooting took place.
Don't get me wrong, I'm no fan of Baldwin. He seems to be another self-righteous prig who confuses celebrity with an ability to opine on all matters for which he knows zip point shit. But that's no reason to send him to prison with bullshit proof.
5 comments:
I want to know just one thing...
How did the FBI wreck a revolver by test shooting it?
Eck!
They possibly fucked around with it to see if they could make it fire without depressing the trigger. Repeated attempts might have damaged the safety notch on the hammer.
Regardless,the protocol for gun handling is that everyone that handles a gun verifies that it is safe. None of the last three people to handle that gun checked it properly if at all.
Actors are trained monkeys. Relying on them to catch errors is a recipe for disaster.
But actors had nothing to do with it.Unless you consider Baldwin an actor.
Because of covid there were only a small number of people allowed in the church.They weren't allowing Reed in.As the gun wrangler she should have refused to give them the guns when they wanted them out of her presence.
When she gave the gun to the assistant director she only demonstrated that 4 of the 6 rounds were dummies.That's what he told the cops in his police interview.That left a 2 live rounds in the gun one under the hammer and the second staged to come up with a hammer pull.
Dummies should have a BB in them so they rattle when shaken.Reed had been using fired rounds for dummies so that she could show the dented primer.
The AD should have insisted that she show him all 6 rounds and she should have insisted that he watch her do it.
Then the AD walked inside and handed the gun to Baldwin without showing him each round individually. He should have insisted that Baldwin watch and Baldwin should have refused the gun until he was shown that the rounds were fake.
This is industry procedure and would have been laid out at the safety meeting the first day.
I'm basing this on the police interviews with Reed ,the AD, and the wardrobe woman that was supposed to be assisting Reed.
If you want an in depth look at the case check out Runkle of the Bailey on youtube. He's a firearms lawyer.
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