Alec Baldwin encouraged his family to visit Santa Fe for a “good time” just hours after he unintentionally shot Halyna Hutchins and Joel Souza on set, killing one and injuring another.
From a New Mexico sheriff’s office, 66-year-old Baldwin contacted his wife, Hilaria, on October 21, 2021, to inform her that Hutchins and Souza had been brought to a hospital. He had not yet learned of Hutchins’s death, but he knew he had fired a bullet that passed through two people.
Witnesses said that Baldwin’s wife was on FaceTime, so they could hear her clearly while she spoke to him. Her replies were audible. Prosecutor Kari Morrissey had this evidence and explained that Baldwin was trying to convince his wife to still come to New Mexico because they couldn’t get their money back for the plane tickets, and they’d like to go ahead and have a good time.
One day, following the terrible catastrophe, Hilaria and their children were supposed to see Baldwin. Despite the horrendous incident, Baldwin insisted that they go ahead and visit.
Following Alex Spiro’s questioning of Santa Fe Sheriff’s Deputy Nicholas Lefleur on Baldwin’s mental condition, Morrissey claimed that the statement should be permitted in court.
After the unintentional gunshot, Spiro inquired as to whether Baldwin seemed distressed. The conversation would seem otherwise.
Poppell, who had earlier claimed under direct examination in court that the film’s prop supplier had conducted a comprehensive search for live ammunition in a warehouse, it was revealed under Spiro’s severe hours-long interrogation that she had not.
Even though it is still unclear who provided the live rounds to the set, the defense has maintained that investigators focused on Baldwin instead.
Spiro presented the jury with images of a warehouse belonging to Seth Kenney’s PDQ Arm and Prop, where Poppell and other cops had sought, without success, live rounds matching the one that had killed Hutchins.
Even though they listened for a rattling and shook a few boxes, Poppell said that they didn’t inspect every single one.
The film’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez Reed, was previously interviewed by police and stated that she checked to ensure a bullet was a fake “most of the time.”
Baldwin, the producer of the ill-fated film, has escaped culpability.