People! There will be a new tv reality show next year! The title is The Baldwins.Can you bear the excitement?
Here’s one of the Promo photos
Could you vomit or what? There was another pic of them all dresssed up as lawyers, with briefcases and sunglasses, yes all 9 of them, but I can’t download it for some reason.
WAIT!
Couldn’t Alec Baldwin be in prison next year? I believe that is a possibility. The TLC channel however intends to produce and show this thing. Alec, Hilaria (yes, that is her real name) and all 7 kids on to cavorting on peoples’ screens.
So. The trial is just a month away now. I’m linking to The Emily Show episode where she covers it. There are fights between the Prosecution and The Plaintiff (Baldwin) and his lawyers).
Mainly the problem here is the witnesses. The prosecution want Hannah G to testify, but the defence don’t. Then there is a whole long list of witnesses that both sides want to testify,but the other side opposes and that’s what all the argy bargy is about. I hope Emily condenses this story into quick bits, because it makes my head spin. If I find a way to get the Baldwin lawyer pic I’ll post it but trust me it’s grotesque.
ETA - the reason I’m letting Emily do the explaining is because it’s just too complicated. Hannah will be escorted from prison to testify, but she has the privilege to plead the fifth (refuse to say anything that could incriminate her.) That much I understand. But Baldwin can invoke the 6th amendment of which I am totally confused about. It’s important, but I can’t imagine how this is going to work. Over to clever lawyer lady.
Seeing as how quickly Alec Baldwin’s trial is coming up, I was just going to let his attorneys whinge and bleat about how unfair everything is, but I’m sick of it.
I’ll put Emily’s summary below. It’s the first topic she discusses after the ad and a few tiny announcements. She does a great job explaining all the weird devices the law can use in this trial.
It seems that Hannah Guiterrez is likely to be a witness In Baldwin’s trial. The thing that’s making all the fuss is that HG has been granted the right to plead the 5th (refuse to say anything that could potentially incriminate her).
This is announced at the start of the trial, but the scope for HG to be selective is huge as she can refuse to testify on a question by question basis. I didn’t know that. Baldwin’s people have been screaming blue murder about this. It’s obnoxious.
Apparently there is a thing called a Use Immunity which means HG can pick and choose which questions she answers and the ones where she pleads the fifth. Infuriating for Baldwin. He has something called the 6th amendment which is supposed to protect him (the defendant) in trial, but I don’t get how it works and far as I can tell it seems pretty toothless in the battle against the 5th amendment.
However, the testimony she’s already given about Baldwin at her own trial can be re-stated, and if she wants to plead the 5th to everything, her previous testimony can be recounted.
I’m literally gagging for this thing to start. July 5, I think. It’s definitely worth listening to Emily’s breakdown if you’re interested. I can give my limited understanding of proceedings, but this case is so convoluted it’s preferable to get the info from the expert. Bring hence July 5th, I’ll be superglued to following this trial.
I’ve been on vacay to Dorset and was unable to watch any of the start of the Baldwin trial. Terrible internet problems… Found out today, day 3 and the trial’s over. Baldwin walks.
I’m still trying to get my head around what happened.
Basically, this is what I understand…
The ammunition, blanks, dummy and live rounds were in transit from another film set, in the charge of some kind of weapons supplier with a good reputation. He transported the ammo and did work on some of the bullets as some were tarnished or otherwise not up to scratch. They were in this man’s possession for 2-3 days, after which they arrived at the Rust Ranch shoot.
It appears the prosecution against Baldwin were aware of this but chose not to disclose that info. Not to the judge, the court or the defence team. Additionally, a police officer present on the Rust set found a glove and did not log it with the other evidence. Logged it under a different case number. That was a bad mistake. It alone may have been enough to get the case dismissed. The ammunition was floating around in transit before it even arrived at the Rust set, putting into question whether there were live rounds in the batch before Baldwin or anyone involved with his movie knew about the condition of the ammo, including Hannah Guiterrez.
Yesterday, day 2 of the trial, Alec Baldwin apparently got pissed off during proceedings and walked out of the courtroom. No permission was asked for or given, he just didn’t like what was happening and stormed off. The prosecution were quite smug and optimistic they had their man. I don’t know the details, haven’t had a chance to watch day 2. This morning, case dismissed, so of course I headed over there and learned the judge had to dismiss under law. She was very angry at the prosecution who failed to disclose evidence, she was visibly furious and had no legal option but to dismiss. Baldwin walks, this time with the court’s blessing.
I’m not sure anyone other than me is following this case. I had a strong feeling Baldwin would walk one way or other, but never expected the prosecution would fuck up a case they appeared to be winning and hand him a get out of jail card on day 3 by not disclosing essential info.
Our trip was screwed by terrible weather. My 5 kids and 3 toddler grandkids were frustrated by having very little to do. It was cold and raining 90% of the time. It was too cold to use the pool or beach. I felt grotty most of the time. Most of us did, and the kids were screaming, squabbling basically rampaging in our nice holiday accommodation. I have a cough which kept me up every night. Today I’m exhausted. Don’t have a summer vacay in Britain. The weather has ruined 3 trips in a row. Bleh. I won’t be watching The Baldwin show. In fact, I’ll be happy never to see him again.
I’ll catch up on anything I’ve missed on the trial palava, probably via Emily’s youtube coverage.
Day 3 and the pitiful end of the Rust trial. The judge is furious at the prosecution and Emily explains it all very well. It ended with a whimper. That’s all folks!
ETA - the above is court evidence in its entirety is confusing and over 4 hours long. So I’m putting the condensed version here. Just because I want to watch this mess in every detail doesn’t mean anyone else has to.
One burning question remains. Does the dismissal of Alec Baldwin make a difference to Hannah Guiterrez? Could she get released? Different legal websites are saying different things. As usual, I’ll go with Emily.
I’ve seen on another legal channel that Kari Morrisey, the lead prosecution lawyer who was instrumental in getting Hannah Guiterrez a long custodial sentence has been disbarred! I don’t know the source so I’m treating it as a rumour. If true, it just goes to show that bending/breaking the rules often doesn’t end well if you’re a lawyer caught with dirty hands.
Distribution of guilt. Is Hannah Guiterrez still culpable for the death of Helena Hutchins, though the case against Baldwin poofed?
Emily’s position is that she doesn’t know which way things will go for Hannah. She was the ARMOURER on the Rust set. The totality of her role was to ensure firearm safety on the set. She failed miserably. Because Alec Baldwin gets to walk, Hannah thinks she does too. But the reason his trial collapsed is different to hers. A woman died because HG didn’t do her job, plain and simple. I think this Quick Bits is one of the most interesting dilemmas of the case. Emily never disappoints.
New info from the Rust fiasco.
It seems Hannah G has been pressing very hard for a get out of jail card. Looks like she’s been granted a new trial.Yanno what stinks about this? She retains her original legal team! Useless Bowles and KARI MORRISEY!
Kari Morrisey who wrecked Baldwin’s trial by withholding evidence. IMO she shouldn’t be lawyering at all until that mess is cleared up. But a second shot at the same case she spectacularly ruined? Not just a little mistake, she broke a constitutional law by withholding information. Never thought I’d say this but I’m sick at the whole thing now. I’ll watch the re-trial but the law just looks like an ass at this point. The judge is the same as before too. Mary Marlowe Sommer remains. I have a lot of time for judge Sommer. I’ll link Emily’s quick bits, but also a very useful sum up by NBC explaining how egregious Morrisey and the Prosecution’s conduct was and breaks it down.
The judge in the Rust trial, who had to abruptly dismiss the case against Baldwin because of VERY improper conduct of the defense team has shown her ire by submitting a summary of what actually occurred. She was outraged. You could see it on her face. She said by withholding evidence and lying to the court Kari Morrisey had done a very very bad thing. It looks as if Hannah G may have her case dismissed and get her freedom. This trial was such a shitshow. Beyond anything I could imagine. There is a Quick Bits from Emily to explain why the judge had to stop proceedings and close the case against Baldwin. It also gives some clues re: how this could impact HG’s conviction. I think Kari Morrisey should be disbarred. She lied and cheated the court. Grounds for the axe, if you ask me.
Whoa. I’ll put the clip up when Emily covers it in quick bits, but I have never seen this former prosecutor as outraged and shocked. Kari Morrisey has the temerity to challenge constitutional LAW in the dismissed Rust trial. The case was dismissed with prejudice back in July. This means counsel is so dishonest/brazen/illegal the whole trial has to be dismissed and with prejudice means final, done, no come back. There is no lawful way round that, but Morrisey thinks she can call for Baldwin to be tried again. Crazy. Buckle up! Emily is so entertaining and watching her be utterly gobsmacked by the hubris is priceless.
Emily’s condensed summing up of the barefaced gall of Kari Morrisey trying to re-litigate the Baldwin palava after Judge Sommers dismissed it with a clause (with prejudice). The with prejudice shut the case up like a coffin. Bad defence. Lies. And so on. It can’t be contested, but Morrisey is contesting it nonetheless.
Oh, it gets better. Judge Mary Sommers is getting her re-veg-nee on Kari Morrissey in a clever but snarky way. She eluded the question about recalling the Baldwin case with simplicity.
Just waved it away with a hand.
It seems if an attorney wants to challenge something that occurs after the trial has been dismissed with prejudice, it has to be succinct. If the Judge insists on it. Kari’s bullshit attempt was met with Judge Sommers stating that it was unacceptable practice to plop down a 52 page tome, regardless of its purpose. She told Morrisey to put it into 10 pages or less, because the 52 page version is in the trashcan. After all the work, sweat and tears of drivelling on re: an impossible legal request, can you imagine?
It seems Judge Sommers is going to apply the slow drip of obstacles to Kari even presenting her pointless crusade. I like Judge Sommers a lot.
Some of my favourite movies have court cases. I’ve rewatched a few many times over. Twelve Angry Men, A Few Good Men, To Kill A Mocking Bird to name some. Recently I watched the court case in the movie Philadelphia. Riveting stuff.
I’m the same. I’ve seen the movies you mentioned a few times too. It was the Johnny Depp/Amber Heard case that got me hooked on genuine courtroom drama. I’d been bitten by the Emily D Baker bug just by chance when her channel was small and super chatty in between the legal stuff. She’s great. I think you’re the only one who follows me here, and I appreciate it. The law in the US is weird because various important things change from state to state. The death penalty is one. A minority of states banned capital punishment. Just recently a 3 year old boy shot himself in a red state. His mom went into a store and left her toddler in the car. He found Mother’s gun underneath the driver’s seat. He was handling it. Not sure if he even knew what it was. So this woman comes back from her shopping to find the corpse of her toddler with his head blown off. She was horrified ( who wouldn’t be) but the judge let her off. In that state, maybe Texas but don’t quote me on that, a gun for personal protection is legal, and it was “concealed” so she was let off. Now she has to live the rest of her life with that horrible image in her brain. The state she lives has the option death sentence, but in this case she was let off with a warning. Probably a good looking woman. And I actually feel sorry for her. She probably grew up with guns, understood the law and didn’t think her child would find the gun. So I wouldn’t want her locked up or, heaven forbid facing death row. The US is fucked up in several important ways, and gun laws are the top of my list of things that needs to be changed.
I’ll carry on writing about cases since you’re interested. I enjoy these legal cases so much it’s great to know at least one person here shares my interest. Thanks!
ETA- I forgot to mention that leaving a toddler alone in a car while mom goes shopping must surely be against the law. Gun or no gun. I would never do this and the other ways this could end in tragedy is a long list.
I agree Etty, Emily D Baker is very good. I enjoy the drama of a trial/court case.
I got called up for jury duty once. I remember it was a lot of sitting around even before getting called to sit in a trial. The case was about a robbery at a service station ( I think they’re called gas stations in the U.S.) It was two females, one was a minor, who jumped over the counter & stole money from the till. The other was older & was put on trial for being an accomplice.
Guns are mostly banned in this country since a mass shooting in 1996 at Port Arthur & now they’re pretty strict about who can own one. However, there has been attacks using knives. This year a guy went crazy with a knife in a Sydney shopping centre & killed six people plus injured several others. So now it is illegal to carry a knife in a public place unless it’s a utitily knife with a blade no longer than 10cm.
