A live round of ammo was discovered in the bullet belt of actor Jensen Ackles after his co-star Alec Baldwin’s prop gun misfired on the set of Rust, according to an investigator who testified at Baldwin’s manslaughter trial on Thursday.
Crime scene technician Marissa Poppell told Baldwin’s defense team that five live bullets were discovered on the New Mexico film set, including on a prop cart, in a box of ammunition, and in two prop gun holsters worn by Baldwin and Ackles.
“Mr. Ackles, another actor on the set, turns out that he, as he acted, as he performed, had another live bullet in his bandolier, correct?” asked defense attorney Alex Spiro, according to CNN.
“Yes,” Poppell replied.
“You have no reason to think Mr. Ackles had any idea that was there, right?” Spiro asked.
“Correct,” Poppell said.
Ackles, known for his television roles on the long-running CW series Supernatural and Amazon Prime’s The Boys, was reportedly on set the day of the shooting, which killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza.
He is not listed in the cast credits of Rust’s IMDb page. When production on the project picked back up in Montana last April, 18 months after the fatal accident, Ackles bowed out due to scheduling conflicts and was replaced by Josh Hopkins. (At least one other actor, Brady Noon, was also recast over conflicting commitments.)
Baldwin returned to his role starring and co-producing. A week prior to the project’s restart, Baldwin’s charges of involuntary manslaughter had been dropped “without prejudice,” meaning that prosecutors could refile charges after another investigation. Around a year later, a grand jury re-indicted Baldwin on the same charges. He has pleaded not guilty.
The movie’s inexperienced armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was charged with involuntary manslaughter and evidence tampering. She was found guilty and sentenced to 18 months in prison in April.
“You alone turned a safe weapon into a lethal weapon,” Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer, who is also presiding over Baldwin’s trial, told Gutierrez-Reed at her sentencing. “But for you, Ms. Hutchins would be alive. A husband would have his partner, and a little boy would have his mother.”
Prosecutors at Baldwin’s trial have sought to paint him as reckless. “You will see him using this gun as a pointer to point at people, to point at things,” special prosecutor Erlinda Johnson said in her opening statement. “You will see him cock the hammer when he’s not supposed to cock the hammer. You will see him put his finger on the trigger when his finger’s not supposed to be on the trigger.”
Baldwin has publicly and repeatedly denied pulling the trigger—a claim prosecutors have called “absurd on its face.” In his own opening statement, Spiro acknowledged for the first time that his client may have pulled the trigger, but cautioned that that didn’t necessarily make him criminally negligent.
Baldwin’s role as the film’s producer will not be weighed at trial, with Sommer ruling on Wednesday that it was not relevant to the case. It marked a significant blow to the prosecution, who have taken pains to argue that, as producer, Baldwin should have been aware of safety requirements on set.
If convicted, Baldwin could face up to 18 months in prison and a $5,000 fine.
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