Law of Self Defense By Attorney Andrew Branca / April 27, 2022
Welcome to our show today in which we mostly cover Alec Baldwin’s rather damning interview with sheriff’s deputies, the investigators on this matter of Baldwin’s shooting dead of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, immediately after the shooting.
A few preparatory remarks before I get into the meat of this.
Columbo Isn’t the Dummy He Makes Himself Out to Be!
First of all, for those of you of a certain age, you may remember the old TV show, “Columbo”. Colombo was kind of a bumbling detective who was always investigating, typically, murders that were committed by nominally very smart, wealthy individuals. Columbo’s kind of poorly dressed, didn’t come across as extremely bright. And these wealthy smart killers were invariably caught, tripped up by Columbo, who despite his appearance was very clever indeed. And often they were trapped because the wealthy killers the “smart” killers would trap themselves because of their hubris, their pride, their ego, they just presumed they were smarter than everybody else.
And I definitely get that vibe from Alec Baldwin in this video. Here he is a multimillionaire movie star, famous the globe over. And he’s dealing with two podunk, I’m sure in his view, podunk sheriff’s deputies investigating the shooting. And they’re both women. And Alec Baldwin strikes me as the kind of guy who believes that women just throw themselves at him, and perhaps they do.
But it strikes me as in the course of this interview, he’s believing that he kind of inherently has an upper hand over these two female sheriff’s deputies.
And he just starts talking with them. And unfortunately, there’s a lot of substance in his recorded interview with them that is entirely consistent with reckless homicide, with involuntary manslaughter under New Mexico law. He’s not doing himself any favors, although I expect he thinks he is.
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Alec Baldwin’s Damning Police Interview
The legal case against actor Alec Baldwin for the apparent involuntary manslaughter of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins continues to strengthen—indeed, it’s now buttressed by Alec Baldwin’s own statements to investigators in an interview that took place immediately after the shooting, even before he was apparently aware that he’d apparently recklessly killed the 42-year-old wife and mother.
The New Mexico Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office recently released additional video relevant to the shooting death of Hutchins at the hands of Baldwin. Most relevant for our purposes here is the video of the interview conducted of Baldwin by two female deputies in the hours immediately following the shooting.
The reason: Alec Baldwin’s own statements are consistent with his conduct in shooting of Hutchins as being criminally reckless, and thus meeting the conditions for conviction under New Mexico’s involuntary manslaughter statute.
New Mexico Involuntary Manslaughter Statute: § 30-2-3. Manslaughter.
The relevant New Mexico statute on involuntary manslaughter is § 30-2-3. Manslaughter, which addresses both voluntary and involuntary manslaughter. Our focus here, of course, is on involuntary manslaughter.
In the context of involuntary manslaughter, § 30-2-3 reads in relevant part:
Manslaughter is the unlawful killing of a human being without malice. … B. Involuntary manslaughter consists of manslaughter committed in the … commission of a lawful act that might produce death … without due caution and circumspection.
Ms. Hutchins is obviously killed. We have stipulated that the killing of Ms. Hutchins was not justified (e.g., it was “unlawful”) and without malice (without intent to cause harm), so that meets the conditions of the first sentence of the manslaughter statute, and satisfies the definition of manslaughter under New Mexico law.
The possibility of voluntary manslaughter appears to be off the table here, given the lack of evidence of a “sudden quarrel” or “heat of passion” required for that crime by § 30-2-3. So that leaves us to consider the possibility of involuntary manslaughter.
The key, then, is to determine whether Baldwin’s pointing of the gun at Ms. Hutchins without first ensuring that the gun did not contain live ammo, was the commission of a lawful act that might produce death and that was done “without due caution and circumspection.”
Inherently Dangerous Instruments: Yep, Including Guns
That means we have to understand what “due caution and circumspection” means—and particularly in the context of an inherently dangerous instrument, such as a firearm.
It is common knowledge that firearms are dangerous instruments, so the law presumes that we all possess such knowledge. In the case of Baldwin, he actually sits on the board of a gun-control organization whose existence is premised on the fact that guns are dangerous, so he can certainly be presumed to possess this knowledge.
Items are inherently dangerous when they can readily cause death or serious bodily injury to people if used carelessly. Guns clearly qualify, as already noted. Also in this category of inherently dangerous instruments would be explosives, heavy equipment, and dangerous drugs or chemicals. Use of these items takes particular and specialized care if death or serious bodily injury is to be avoided.
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Alec Baldwin’s Police Interview Corroborates Reckless Involuntary Manslaughter
That brings us to the just released video of Alec Baldwin’s interview with detectives immediately after his shooting dead Halyna Hutchins. Although I expect Baldwin believed his participation in this interview would mitigate his legal liability in Hutchins’ death, in fact it provides substantial corroborative evidence—from his own mouth!—consistent with a legal finding of reckless involuntary manslaughter.
Remember what is required for involuntary manslaughter under New Mexico’s statute § 30-2-3 in this context:
Manslaughter is the unlawful killing of a human being without malice. … B. Involuntary manslaughter consists of manslaughter committed in the … commission of a lawful act that might produce death … without due caution and circumspection.
Much More:
https://lawofselfdefense.com/the-hunt-for-red-manslaughter-alec-baldwins-damning-police-interview/
