Judge in Alec Baldwin “Rust” Trial Scolds Attendees for Making a Mess in Court: ‘Have Some Manners’
New Mexico judge Mary Marlowe Sommer asked members of the media in the court to pick up after themselves
The judge in Alec Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter trial likes a clean courthouse.
At the start of proceedings on Thursday, July 11, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer scolded members of the media for not cleaning up their cups and water bottles at Santa Fe’s 1st Judicial District Court of New Mexico.
“One more cup and everybody is not allowed to bring any liquids of any kind whatsoever,” she said.
“My staff and our county people are not going to be picking up trash that you all could pick up. Okay? And that also means downstairs in the jury assembly room,” she continued.
“So one more cup, one more water — let’s just have some manners on picking up after ourselves, okay? Sorry I had to bring that up right now.”
And with that, one of Baldwin’s defense attorneys, Alex Spiro, continued his questioning of Marissa Poppell, a crime scene technician for the Santa Fe Sheriff, about evidence she collected from the set of Rust in 2021 following the accidental and fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
Baldwin, 66, the star of the low-budget Western, was rehearsing a scene with a prop gun when it discharged, killing Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza. Baldwin, who has insisted he did not pull the trigger or know how the gun accidentally contained live ammunition, was indicted on one charge of involuntary manslaughter in January.
He has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, he faces up 18 months in prison.
In her opening arguments on July 10, prosecutor Erlinda Johnson painted Baldwin as a “reckless” actor who did not follow proper gun safety protocol. Defense attorney Spiro countered that the incident was “an unspeakable tragedy. Alec Baldwin committed no crime. He was an actor acting.”
Baldwin’s family members, including his brother Stephen Baldwin, sister Beth Keuchler and wife Hilaria Baldwin have been in court to support him, sitting in rows behind the defense team.
On Thursday, during a break in the proceedings while the lawyers conferred with the judge, Hilaria, dressed in a dark suit, left her seat next to Stephen and approached her husband.
They whispered to each other, turning their heads from onlookers in the courtroom. Before she sat back down, she stroked his shoulder and he smiled at her.
The trial is expected to run through July 19. Judge Sommer also oversaw the trial of Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who, in March, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter for her role in Hutchins’ death. The next month, Sommer handed down the maximum sentence of 18 months in prison.
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