In the movie I worked on where real guns were used as props the armorer had strict rules and a safety protocol he went through on each gun for each scene. Before the scene he went through his check list to check every aspect of the gun for safety and to make sure it’s loaded with the correct dummy rounds. Once he was finished with his check list he announced to the set that the gun was safe or “Cold” then handed it to the actor. If the actor did ANYTHING with the gun other than what is required in the scene, such as check it himself, then the armorer would have to take the gun back and start his check list all over again. It’s the armorer’s responsibility 100% on a film set. Another note regarding this case is that even if Baldwin had checked the gun he would not have been readily able to tell the difference between the dummy rounds and the rogue live round. Whoever allowed the rogue live rounds to enter the set and onto the armorers cart is the real culprit.

The armorer's sentence was way too light, as her SOLE responsibility was to ensure that the accident never happened.

Sounds like everyone was incompetent.

So I gotta admit... I was initially pretty pissed to learn about the dismissal with prejudice, as I grew up with gun safety drilled into me. But you're 100% right about Brady violations deserving the harshest response. Our judicial system needs to maintain the highest standards of integrity possible - especially in modern times, when those standards are under attack even from the highest levels of the judiciary's own ranks. So no matter how I feel about the outcome at the end of the day, unfortunately it was the only one that could've been correct after certain decisions were made by the prosecution. Thanks for changing my mind.

Personally, I think Baldwin got lucky that the prosecution made a bad mistake and the judge had to dismiss the case with prejudice.

On the first day of trial when the judge was deciding whether Alec’s producer role would be entered in trial, she READ his contract in court. He had no hiring, firing or budgetary role. He was a producer in name only in order to get a percent of the sales since his pay was low. That’s why the judge decided his role as “producer” was irrelevant to the case. There were 6 other “real” producers each in charge of hiring decisions for their sections. The line producer was in charge of hiring and supervising the armorer. That was who hired and supervised Hannah. Also, Alec arrived on set TWO days before the shooting so how much interaction could he have had with the crew. They had been shooting for weeks before he showed up.

This is the most reasonable and balanced analysis of this case I've seen. Well done, Dr Grande.

Dr Grande 100 percent right again. I don't think Alec has criminal liability, especially with the withheld evidence. I do believe he and the production have a substantial civil liability. I work in a shipping hub, if someone makes the mistake of starting a belt with an individual on it, and that individual dies, the person who started the belt will not be arrested. They will be fired, and they and the company will have civil liability, but no one is going to prison. This has literally happened.

The firewall of safety is not with the actor. Looking at the thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of movies made with the use of movie set firearms, it is evident that not every actor has the opportunity to check for prop integrity, nor would know what to look for even if required to do so. And where would it end? Actors required to check vehicle safety? Aircraft? Boats? Buildings? Parachutes? Food? Furniture? No, the system requires a trained, qualified technician as a go-between, someone to sign off on the safety and integrity of props. In "Rust" there was failure, certainly, but put the blame where it belongs.

Before this I just assumed that all movie guns were props built for the film. It still amazes me that they use a real weapon. Especially these days when everything from Gollum to entire armies and more are computer generated, I just figured all of the realism was added in post production to a toy prop. Other than a security guard, I can see no reason to ever have a real weapon on set, much less real ammo. 🔫🎥

As a producer, I think he is somewhat liable, but not as an actor. As a producer, he was responsible for hiring competent people and making sure safety standards were upheld. I guess he couldn’t legally be held liable as a producer for some reason, though.

One of the biggest reasons I come here is for a viewpoint that is not politically biased. I'm glad Dr Grande delivered that.

Nicolas Cage had a great take on this issue. He said something like, “Stuntmen sometimes have to be actors, and actors sometimes have to be stuntmen. If you’re doing a scene on a motorcycle, you need to know about that motorcycle. If you’re doing a scene with a gun, you need to know about that gun”. I’m paraphrasing, but damn that makes a lot of sense.

This is such a bizarre story. How did Troy Treske get the box of ammo that he "thought might be related to the case"? Why did he wait until the trial of Hannah to turn over the ammo to authorities? (Teske is a friend of Hannah's father, by the way.)

It's pretty rare that I disagree with your analysis but this is one such case. I agree that dismissal with prejudice is the correct sanction for prosecutorial misconduct. But I disagree with Baldwin's level of negligence and his guilt in the absence of prosecutorial misconduct. There is New Mexico Supreme Court precedent that a good faith belief that a gun is unloaded is still manslaughter. I believe that people who use guns for a living as Baldwin was as a producer and had been doing for many years as an actor have an even higher duty to be safe than a general member of the public. The fact that he did not check the gun himself is inexcusable.

Looks like bedtime is postponed by 16 minutes tonight! I’ve been waiting for your take on this. Thank you, Dr. Grande, I always appreciate your insight.

Dr. Grande can you examine the personality of Keri Morrisey based on her behavior during the trial?!! Please??

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”- Alec Baldwin

I agree. Baldwin was not responsible for the gun having a live round in it. As for pointing it at a person- he was going to be doing that in a scene with another actor, wasn't he? He was rehearsing a scene that must have been a gun battle with someone else. That actor would have been the victim and again Baldwin would not have been to blame although I'm sure he would feel terrible about it for the rest of his life.

100 % agree with this analysis.

Hopefully, the Rust karma of incompetence has now run its course. I don't think Baldwin was culpable as an actor, but probably was ethically challenged as a producer. As armorer, Gutierrez was uninterested and uninvested in doing her job, which was to ensure the safety of the cast and crew. All she wanted was a credit for her CV. I was so shocked to see video of her shrugging and walking away from potentially dangerous situations instead of taking control. She does deserve some prison time. It's not everybody else's job to make sure Hannah does not do stupid stuff, though clearly she thinks so.

This is entirely on the weapon expert of the set. Alec had no way of knowing that it was a live round.

How could Baldwin be even morally culpable if he believed, and had reason to believe, that it was a dummy round in the pistol?

I have to agree the prosecuter messed up the case. But I think you are far too generous to Alec. First of all: he lied about not pulling the trigger. He was the producer after all, with the final responsibility of everything that was going on at the set. There were testimonies people were shooting with real bullets during the breaks. That the working conditions were unbearable. That safety procedures were compromised, because measures around 'the bug' at that time. He also immediately went to the press to throw the armorer under the bus. Last of all, Alec is very vocal about gun safety and likes to lecture everyone how guns are a problem in the USA.

I enjoy your knowledge of firearms Dr. Grande. Im always interested to hear you talk about them.

What happened with Alec was he Is politically active and opinionated and in our political environment some folks don’t like this quality so some wanted to believe the worst about him in the Rust case. The truth is this was always a civil law case.

Incompetent people runs rampant these days.

That judge was pissed! (only speculating)

Dr. Grande: I love your wise, whimsical, and very witty words. I love the length and format of your videos. Keep up the great work thank-you.

"Rust In The Wind" OMG I'm dying, love your humor Dr. Grande 🤣😂🤣

I heard that they had been using refurbished bullets/dummies on the set to save money and that there had been some issue with them not being properly marked. In other words there were live bullets marked as dummy bullets. The box of bullets the Prosecutor received was supposedly part of the same lot or group the set bullets came from. A closer examination might've been in order but the Prosecutor said she never gave the Defense a copy of the final report because she didn't have another copy. (Seriously, she said that.) At any rate, if a mis-marked bullet had been the culprit, then the entire set was a Russian Roulette Wheel.

I've been wondering since the day I heard about this tragic incident was why and how real gun cartridge got on the set.

15:05 I don't think Baldwin lost any sleep over this other than being concerned about himself.

Justice is not always blind, Dr. Grande. It sometimes has a nose for money.

I appreciate your analysis, Dr. Grande!!

I wouldnt say its shocking. This was sad but not balwdwins fault. You're an actor on a set, the assumption is its a safe prop

real guns don't turn into magical guns on a movie set💜

What gets me about Baldwin is, first, that his tears were himself and his own career not the dead mom and friend, and second, that he is now claiming that he didn't even pull the trigger! Come on! Stand up like a man whether you're prosecuted or not!

The case against Baldwin was actually pretty decent. I don't believe he had culpability on the level of the armorer, but he still had some. He is lucky the prosecution was seemingly completely incompetent. People keep saying an actor has zero responsibility to check the firearm, but consider this... Baldwin was a producer, who is ultimately responsible for safety on sets. Producers hire the personnel like armorers. They hired a horribly incompetent/inexperienced armorer to save money. They also should've hired more then one because they ended up splitting gun safety responsibilities with other staff on set, but they didn't... again to save money. They had negligent discharges on set before this incident occurred... staff had complained and even walked off set in response to the "unsafe practices on set". Supposedly the crew were taking the firearms out in the desert to shoot live ammo for fun as well. The entire set skipped taking firearm safety classes because the producers didn't have the time or money to spend on that. Baldwins' culpability comes mostly from his failures as a producer. But even as an actor he failed. It doesn't matter if your industry has a standard where actors are not responsible for a certain aspect of safety. Firearms are uniquely different, especially if you are handling a real firearm. I don't know how people feel that is an absolute defense, where any regular citizen has no legal obligation to be trained and competent with a firearm either, yet they can be held criminally responsible if they hurt someone with one. If they handed him a firearm that was actually defective and fired without pulling the trigger, like Baldwin foolishly claimed in a tv interview, then yes, I believe responsibility would fall squarely on the armorer for not maintaining a well functioning firearm. But that was easily disproved as the firearm was shown to be properly functioning. That's just the legal side of things. Morally, he should feel horrible. Baldwin is an outspoken anti gun liberal. And I am saying that as someone who loved him in 30 Rock and as the best guest to be on SNL in recent decades. He openly talks about how evil guns are and advocated for better regulation and harsher punishment for gun crimes, yet he had a lazy approach to gun safety on set and failed to give them the proper respect as deadly tools.

I agree with your analysis. Calling the prosecution "malicious" puts a label on a vague feeling I had, and I agree that Baldwin is unlikely to be able to put this behind him. I know I wouldn't.

Great analysis of the events. Unfortunately, the court has spoken. She has been found guilty. It was her job.

A felony crime was committed: Prosecutorial misconduct.

Always happy to make to one of your videos early Dr Grande. May that poor woman rest in peace. She died because of someone’s negligence.

I don't care about the legal technicalities - when this happened years ago I knew he would never face jail..... he was going to walk and he did..

Guys Alec Baldwin is a rich d-bag but this dismissal is legit. A prosecutor can’t withhold exculpatory evidence. Brady v. Maryland has spared thousands of criminal defendants, rich and poor, from conviction since 1963 when it was decided. My only nitpick is Dr. Grande saying guilt will eat away at Baldwin. Based on his conversations in the days after the shooting (which he tried unsuccessfully to have excluded from evidence) I don’t think guilt is a human condition he’s very susceptible to.

Excellent analysis and right about every element.

Love how Grande omits the part where multiple people were trying to get the attention of the authorities.

There was some really strange behaviour from the prosecutor and lead investigator. They both clearly know about these extra bullets being turned in, and their responsibilities to turn over all evidence to the defence, why they would log it under a different case number it's really strange. Then it became clear the prosecutor was lying on the witness stand, she lied about the reason for the other attorney resigning so quickly and easily. It was all very strange.

A couple of things trouble my mind in this case...... 1, who allowed live bullets on set ( why would you need them) 2, did Alec Baldwin somehow want the deceased out the way legitimately and this was an underhanded way of getting rid of her. 3, why is there no physical difference between a live round and a dummy round ( at least from the back of the round if loaded) 4, any set should have an experienced armourer on set ( the armourer used had little or no experience) 5, why are "real" weapons used when a dummy gun could be used and then "edit in the noise" of the weapon Far too many things going on here, the family of the deceased have been robbed of justice by a string of wrong doings on so many levels by individuals and situations.

Thank you for such a clear presentation, Dr. Grande. The live round is a mystery.

Excellent summary. Thank you Dr. Grande.

I agree with you Dr. Grande. Thank you for sharing your analysis of this case.

Why would there even be live ammo on any movie set...

As for the so-called "evidence" - it was not established as evidence at all. It seems NOT to have been collected at the scene by anyone on the investigative team, and it seems not to have been introduced into the trial as such by the prosecution, so I don't see how it was a Brady violation at all! A RETIRED police officer turned in "evidence" he only THOUGHT MIGHT be related to the case? And it was NEVER used to prosecute Baldwin? And on that flimsy basis the judge dismisses the case WITH PREJUDICE? Don't tell me this is not corrupt two-tier "justice"!

As a producer he was partly responsible for conditions on set. That whole production was a crap show. I live nearby and saw a lengthy statement from the first crew on social media, basically the Italian producers were a bunch of cheapskates and didn’t want to get hotel rooms for the crew. That meant some would have been doing 18 hour days because they had to commute from Albuquerque. The mileage was just under what was required to force the production to get them rooms. In fact the above the line folks openly ridiculed the crew for wanting better conditions. There was also a ton of other safety issues so a lot of crew walked off. Baldwin himself could’ve easily paid a few hundred to treat the crew like human beings and all this could’ve been avoided. When I was a background deputy I had a rubber pew pew and it was ANNOUNCED when I walked on set. There were soooo many screw ups that were avoidable! And I’d heard some people were using the pistols for target practice and that’s how the live rounds got in. But I never heard anything about that from investigators.

You always treat any gun as if it's loaded. Yes, the cardinal rules on set are the same as any other place. If you had researched this better, you would have known that; Mr. Baldwin had be warned of that on several occasions prior to the shooting. Those rounds that Troy had turned over were never even in the same state as the shooting occurred; they were not material to the case in any way. Mr. Baldwin's trial was never about the rounds, it was about reckless behavior leading the charge of Involuntary manslaughter, it had nothing to do with the round fire. Again, your research was very poor! But what is material, is this: Something doesn’t feel right about the judge throwing out the case. Mr. Baldwin is completely off the hook for his reckless behavior leading to the charge of Involuntary manslaughter, because of unrelated evidence that inadvertently was not given to the defense, and has no significant exculpatory barring on the merits of the case or trial? This was judicial error on the Judge's part. Something is amiss here. A woman is dead! Where’s the justice for her and her family...

baldwin 100% knew basic firearms safety rules. his dad was an nra rated shooting instructor at a school. 100% he got the firearms safety rules talk on multiple occasions.

Alec Baldwin will now be hosting a new TV game show........ ' IS IT LOADED ? ' 🤣🤣

Thank you for your probing mind, intense humor, and wonderful personality! We appreciate you Dr. Grande : )

I have been following the RUST trials. While Alec Baldwin the actor may have been legally innocent. Alec Baldwin the producer should have been culpable. However the court disallowed Baldwin's role as a producer to be part of this trial. No other producers were indicted. Dave Halls (AD who said "cold gun" which led to Hutchins' death) was given a plea deal. The Rust Production company tried to save money, hence Hannah Gutierrez's hire. There is video of Baldwin "showing off" with a loaded weapon in front of an outsider at the RUST location. Baldwin skipped safety meetings or showed up only to spend time on his phone. After the death, there were the interviews (police, George Stephanopoulos) indicating how familiar Alec Baldwin was with weapons and safety. Mr. Baldwin can now thank incompetent investigators and an over confident prosecutor for his freedom. Ironically the prosecutor Kari Morrissey was similar to the man she desired to imprison, she could not believe that she could ever be wrong. Unlike Halyna Hutchins, Alec Baldwin will be just fine, it is his nature.

Excellent recap and succinct analysis. And pardon the pun but as all sailors know, "Rust NEVER sleeps!"

Even if Alec had checked the gun what would he be looking for/at? I don't think he was guilty at all. What a horrible tragedy for the woman who was killed and for her family. Just awful.

I’m glad Dr. Grande has changed his mind since his last videos on this case.

Thanks for the upload, Dr. Grande! Your true fans love your humor and sarcasm. July 14 is National Grand Marnier Day, Bastille Day, International Nude Day, Tape Measure Day, Shark Awareness Day, International Non-Binary People's Day (precisely between 3/8 International Women's Day and 11/19 International Men's Day), National Macaroni and Cheese Day (gotta have some MORE and my last Stouffer's macaroni and cheese later!), National Ice Cream Day (gotta have some NEW Häagen-Dazs mint chocolate chip Extras ice cream later!), Emmeline Pankhurst Day, and Pandemonium Day.

Miscarriage of justice.

Thank you for your insight. I still do not like Alex Baldwin because of his nasty comments directed at people on the Internet.

I despise Alec Baldwin as a person, but the prosecution effed up, possibly on purpose. The judgment remains the same. But I will not watch or pay $1 to view "Rust".

Dr Grande an analysis of the prosecutor would be very interesting....hope you can do one.

Vic Morrow was decapitated by a helicopter blade on set, and 2 children in the same incident. Movies have mever been a "safe" industry.

I agree with the broad position here, and Mr Baldwin should be free. But 2 things play on my mind.....early on someone on Court TV posed...." if the scene called for a self induced gunshot to the head, would AB have taken the extra 5 seconds to check it? Secondly, there's be scenes released where "cut" is called and AB fires and does his own thing, or calls for immediate/continual scene shooting. Those things speak not of intent to kill, but 'fark everyone else, you do what I say'...that's makes things unsafe and people did leave. Probably a 3rd thing to....according to Gloria Allred, 2-3 days ago AB has NEVER reached out to Helena's parents. Between that and his arrogant display during opening arguments, walking out of the courtroom when he didn't like what was said......AB has an EGO like the pyramids! It looked terrible. If one of his 7 children wanted to act, would he want them to check the gun, or just leave it, cause 'x' said it's OK. Should NEVER have happened after The Crow, and is PROOF that movie production has learnt nothing. (In that regard).

the crux of the entire case is the origin of the live round. no fingerprints on the casing implies sabotage.

Thanks doc! I really enjoyed your analysis, particularly the breakdown of the probabilities assuming independent events.

I agree with the analysis and from day one I questioned just why Baldwin was being charged. I too think it was a political move to curry favor with "Trump's Base" kind of people who have an animus toward Baldwin for various reasons. If at a firing range, Baldwins would be expected to know proper firearm safety. If at a range, the way he actually handled the revolver would be a clear violation of the most basic firearms safety procedures and the range master (and everybody there) would have immediately raised a serious issue with him and demanded that he not come back until properly educated. The movie set was not a firing range and there was no expectation by anyone on the set that Baldwin or any actor would be practicing range safety procedures while filming a scene. Baldwin was an actor and expected to act as such and no more.

Love all the content Dr grande! Keep up the great work

Fast on the videos lately! I am happy about dismissal, told people he shouldn't be held responsible, it was Hannah's & Dave's job. Seemed like sabotage. Great points as always. Thanks Dr G😊💙💙

Been waiting for the doctor to cover this one !!! Thank you and have a blessed day

7:41 the face you have when your plan to get your murder case thrown out is working

Dr. Grande, I did, indeed, find your analysis informative.

I knew he never would be prosecuted..

The last day of that trial was like something out of a movie. It was the start of a weekend of wild news.

Great video, Dr. Grande!

“Alec blew my mind!” Helena Hutchison

As a cinematographer myself, I was quite horrified by what happened. But this a great case for having dummy guns rather than real guns on a movie set. Any kid with a computer and rudimentary knowledge of After Effects can make a dummy gun look real. I would never work with real guns.

The video shown in court of Alec Baldwin using his gun as a pointer to indicate where the cameraman should be positioned establishes misuse of a firearm, and negligence

Of course the armorer has the responsibility here, but Alec Baldwin has more money than him, presumably.

I briefly had a gun onset when playing a policeman. The armorer was very professional and very aware of the damage Rust has done to their profession. It was totally the armorer's responsibility to make sure that gun did not have live bullets. In my situation the armorer offered the ability to check the gun and make sure everyone was happy and was very professional.

Yet, the odds were 100% that day.

I'm a SAG-AFTRA member and our union rules prevent us from doing other professionals' jobs on set. Furthermore, Alec Baldwin would have violated on set safety protocols by tampering with the gun in any way (other than as explicitly directed). Saying he was the "last line of defense" is not accurate in this case as safety protocols and union rules prevented him from "checking" the gun. Based on safety protocols and union rules, he was the only person in this specific instance to follow proper procedure.

All we are is rust in the wind.

All of this could have been avoided by using digital effects, sound editing, and now, AI. This was not the first person shot dead on a movie set. Time to change the way they use guns. The fact that live ammo was actually ON THE SET, is horrendous! I agree 100% with your analysis! Lots of common sense here!❤

I don't think alic will ever be acussed of being intelligent

Guttierez had a history if careless behavior on set, previously handing a loaded gun to an 11 year old actress. She’s 24, makes you think she’s a diversity hire to fill Hispanic/Female quota

In your balancing of the pros and cons regarding a conviction of Alec Baldwin, you omit the fact that Alec Baldwin was a producer of the film; that should incur some sort of command responsibility, even if a film set is not a military community. It appears that Baldwin's celebrity status was used to sabotage the case against him, on the part of the State, and you certainly have done him no harm here.

"Rust in the Wind" Good grief.lol

no. Alec was the producer. he had a duty of care to ensure everyone was following the rules.

Wow, love the rest analogy, thank you for the analysis

Dr Todd way off on this one

It wasn’t a “shocking dismissal”. Charges never should have been charged on Baldwin.

just a reminder, im not diagnosing anybody in this video, only speculating what could be happening in a case like this.

Importantly he was cleared bc prosecution ignored the rules to get a win..that was wrongful and implies that they targeted him and wanted to win at all costs..shockingly..