Alec Baldwin Pleads Not Guilty to Involuntary Manslaughter

Alec Baldwin pleaded not guilty Wednesday to involuntary manslaughter charges lodged against him by New Mexico prosecutors, who revived the criminal case against him earlier this month over his role in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of Rust.

The actor and producer of the low-budget western has maintained that he didn’t pull the trigger on the firearm that discharged. He was indicted for a second time after charges were initially dropped following a five-month investigation, culminating with a forensic expert issuing a report clashing with Baldwin’s account of the incident. …

SAG-AFTRA has come to the actor’s defense. In a statement after the criminal case was revived, the union stressed that he did not have the responsibility to inspect the firearm that discharged.

[We’ll see how a jury feels about that. Adam Baldwin (no relation) disagrees with SAG-AFTRA on this point, by the way, as we have discussed on a previous Amiable Skeptics episode. Part of Alec’s issue here is that he apparently lied about not pulling the trigger; the forensic report made clear that the gun could not have fired without a trigger pull. Plus, Alec was more than just a ‘performer’ on the set — he was also a producer and had a responsibility to keep the set safe. — Ed]