Mister Baldwin, how confident are you that the jury will find you not guilty?

Actor Alec Baldwin arriving to court today amid a crush of media from around the globe. Baldwin now facing a jury in the fatal shooting of cinematographer Helena Hutchins on the set of the western movie rust nearly three years ago. His wife Ilaria, and his brother, fellow actor Stephen Baldwin, seated behind him.

You'll hear during this trial the use of the words prop gun and you'll learn a prop gun. Is this real gun? It's not a toy. It's not made of rubber. It's a real gun.

The high profile case underway in Santa Fe, the picturesque capital of New Mexico. The trial just 20 miles from where the shooting happened, its harrowing aftermath caught on cameras worn by first responders. Baldwin is charged with felony involuntary manslaughter in Hutchins death.

One of the main problems that afternoon of October 21 was that the defendant didn't do a gun safety check with that inexperienced armorer.

At issue is whether he was negligent in handling the prop gun that killed Hutchins, who was married with a young son while Baldwin was rehearsing for a shooting scene. This video filmed just hours before Hutchins was killed.

Nice.

Baldwin has pleaded not guilty. He says he did not know the gun was loaded with a live round and claims he did not pull the trigger. If convicted, he faces up to 18 months in prison. In court, prosecutors describing a pattern of recklessness on the set.

He pointed the gun at another human being, caught the hammer and pulled that trigger in reckless disregard for Miss Hutchins safety.

This was an unspeakable tragedy. But Alec Baldwin committed no crime. He was an actor acting. The most critical issue in this case is how a real bullet got on a movie set.

Baldwin's high powered defense attorney, Alex Spiro, pushing back hard.

It's a scene similar to scenes we've all seen in movies and television, performed by thousands of actors.

Baldwin has been a Hollywood mainstay for four decades. He shot to stardom in the late eighties and early nineties, starring in films like the Hunt for Red October, Beetlejuice.

What I mean is, can you be scary?

What do you think of this? You like it? And Glengarry Glen Ross.

A, B, c, a. Always BBC closing. Always be closing.

Baldwin also winning two emmys for his role as Jack Donaghy in the smash sitcom 30 Rock.

I'm Jack Donaghy, new VP of development for NBC, GE, Universal, Kmart.

We own K Mart now?

No. So why are you dressed like we do?

And another for his portrayal of then President Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live.

I'm the only guy who even knows what IQ means. Most people don't even know what it stands for. Incredible. A lot of people don't know that.

Just last month, Baldwin and his wife Hilaria, announcing their latest project.

We're inviting you into our home, a.

Reality show with their seven young kids.

He's someone who has a big family that his wife Hilaria Baldwin, documents on her instagram. The family just signed a deal with TLC to document their life.

I imagine this will or may not be included.

If I were a TLC, I'd want it to be.

The announcement met with criticism coming amid the cloud of Baldwin's impending felony trial. It was October 2021, during the second week of filming when tragedy struck eleven.

What's the location of your emergency? We need a met. We need an ambulance out at Bonanza Creek Ranch right now. We've had two people shot on a movie set accidentally.

Baldwin was practicing with a prop Colt 45 revolver when a live round fired from the gun, striking 42 year old Helena Hutchins in the chest and injuring the film's director, Joel Souza. Hutchins was airlifted to a hospital, where she later died. Souza was treated and released.

From my understanding, you were in the room when the lady, when someone was.

Shot in the gun? Yeah.

Okay. Alrighty. Well, I know your name.

So Baldwin spoke about that day with ABC's George Stephanopoulos.

I'm handed a gun and someone declares, they said, this is a cold gun. Dave Halls, the first ad in my years on the sets of film, Hot Gun meant that there was a charge in there and cold gun meant there was nothing in there. When he's saying, this is a cold gun, what he's saying to everybody on the set is, you can relax. The gun is empty. That's what cold gun means. Well, cold gun means there's no charge in there. There could be dummy rounds.

Baldwin says Hutchins instructed him to point the gun towards her while practicing a scene.

And I said to her, now, in this scene, I'm gonna cock the gun. And I said, do you want to see that? And she said, yes. And I cocked the gun. I go, can you see that? Can you see that? Can you see that? And she says, and then I let go of the hammer of the gun and the gun goes off.

So you never pulled the trigger?

No, no, no. I would never point a gun at anyone and pull a trigger at them. Never.

Charges were ultimately filed against the film's armorer, Hannah Gutierrez and first assistant director David Halls, who handed Baldwin the loaded prop gun. Halls pleaded no contest to negligent use of a deadly weapon. As part of a plea deal, he was sentenced to six months of unsupervised release in March 2023.

We find the defendant, Hannah Gutierrez, guilty of involuntary manslaughter as charged in count one.

Gutierrez was convicted of involuntary manslaughter earlier this year, receiving the maximum sentence of 18 months. She's appealing her sentence from prison.

Someone who played make believe with a real gun and violated the cardinal rules of firearm safety is the defendant, Alexander Baldwin.

Now the trial against Alec Baldwin is underway. Prosecution calling on four expert witnesses.

My suspicion was that they were live rounds.

How many rounds altogether did you discover that you thought were suspected live rounds on the set of rust?

Five. And the spent casing. So six in total.

Painting a picture of a mismanaged set rife with poorly handled ammunition and firearms.

How many rounds that were in that holster did you suspect were live?

One.

Based on your work on this case, do you know who was the actor who was assigned to that holster?

Alec Baldwin.

Also taking the stand? Two deputies who arrived to the set minutes after the shooting. Footage from their lapel cameras capturing the tense, chaotic moments at the scene.

Everybody stops what they're doing right now. This is a crime scene.

Medics tending to Helena Hutchins and carrying the two victims away on stretchers. The gun, which was not submitted in armorer Hannah Gutierrez trial, admitted as a key piece of evidence in these court proceedings. Lieutenant Timotheo Benavidez detained Gutierrez at the crime scene.

It is the gun that Hannah Gutierrez, the armorer, handed to me. It is the gun that's in front of me. And this is the gun that the armorer, Hannah Guterres, handed me.

Video from the scene showing Gutierrez clearly emotional while interacting with officers.

One of the things we know about the rust set is that it was a low budget movie and that a lot of choices were being made about how to spend money that seemed to impact the safety on the set. For instance, Hannah Gutierrez Reed the armorer, was a very inexperienced person. She'd only done one other movie.

Hannah Gutierrez was in charge of many things on this set, like bringing in ammunition and the guns and testing them, but more importantly, ensuring that it was properly loaded before handing it to an actor.

But the question remains, was Alec Baldwin to blame? Defense attorneys pointing blame at the armorer and assistant director saying Baldwin was given a loaded gun.

You don't know how the live bullet.

Got on the movie set?

I do not you don't know why the armor loaded into the. Loaded into the prop gun? She didn't tell you that? No, I do not. And you don't know why the first ad failed to detect it? I do not. I have nothing further to say.

The trial is expected to last ten days, while Baldwin's fate is unknown. But Hutchins death has already left a lasting imprint on Hollywood. Will what happened on the Rust movie set, this tragedy, will that impact how movies operate?

Rust has already changed movie sets. Some directors have come forward and said they see no reason for having real guns in the age of computer generated imagery. There was also a law passed in California last year that required new rules and protocols and permits for people who do the job of the armorer.

So it's not just shaping up to be a cautionary tale. Actual change is happening.

Indeed. Yeah.