Alec Baldwin’s Rust trial starts with witnesses recalling chaotic set shooting

Actor Alec Baldwin stands during a break in his involuntary manslaughter trial (Ross D Franklin/AP, Pool)

A defence attorney told jurors on Wednesday that the shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was an “unspeakable tragedy” but that “Alec Baldwin committed no crime; he was an actor, acting”.

Baldwin’s lawyer Alex Spiro emphasised in his opening statement in a Santa Fe, New Mexico, courtroom that Baldwin, who is on trial for involuntary manslaughter, did exactly what actors always do on the set of the film Rust, where Ms Hutchins was killed in October 2021.