PESA Lions, Loyola Marymount University’s student club of PESA, hosted Seymour Amster, the organization’s Executive Director and Criminal Defense Attorney, as he presented Rust: The Case Against Alec Baldwin to undergraduate students. This presentation outlined the accidental shooting that happened on the film set of Rust. On October 21, 2021, Halyna Hutchins died from a bullet wound from a gun that was being used as a prop by Alec Baldwin. Amster described the legal case against Alec Baldwin, and Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the film’s armorer. Charges of involuntary manslaughter have been filed against both Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed.
Amster described the specific criteria that qualifies an action as involuntary manslaughter and criminal negligence, and discussed how these charges are applicable to the accidental gun discharge and how it affects Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed. The presentation also discusses how other parties could also be indicted, including the individual who supplied the bullets, the individual who hired Gutierrez-Reed, and the individuals who were aware that the film’s budget was too low. This discussion gave students more context and opportunity to apply the legal frameworks of involuntary manslaughter and criminal negligence to other agents. Students were curious as to how Amster thought the courts would rule. He answered that he predicts the armorer Guitierrez-Reed would receive jail time, whereas Baldwin would get some leniency due to his lawyers, but his status as a producer with more responsibilities than an actor might affect his sentencing.
Students engaged with the legal technicalities and considered what this could mean in their own potential careers in the entertainment industry. This was especially helpful to many student attendees who were interested in entertainment business, film & TV production, and acting. Juliette Kashani, a student at LMU who is interested in going to law school, stated that “this presentation opened up a new perspective of criminal law that I hadn’t considered before.”
Amster concluded by saying that “Sometimes it is better to walk away from a project than to accept one fraught with potential budget issues. Easy to say, hard to do, with rent needing to be paid or a family needing to be supported.”
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