New Mexico v. Alec Baldwin?
Regardless of what anyone else on the set did, is there is a reasonable basis under New Mexico law to charge Alec Baldwin with involuntary manslaughter?
by George Parry
October 28, 2021, 11:42 PM
Alec Baldwin meet Ed Gilliam.
In 1955 Gilliam was tried in New Mexico for involuntary manslaughter in the accidental shooting death of one Eva Devoll.
In his opening to the jury, the prosecutor stated:
It is the State’s theory that the specific act or acts consisted of carelessly handling a loaded fire-arm (sic), and in particular that the defendant loaded the gun, that he handled it without due caution and circumspection while he was drinking, and that he drank intoxicants while he had a loaded gun in his possession.
The evidence established that Ms. Devoll was killed at the home of Leslie Johnson. Persons present when the gun discharged were Johnson, D.E. Hendrix, Gilliam, and Devoll, the decedent.
Gilliam testified that Hendrix handed him the gun, and, as he took hold of the trigger guard and barrel, the weapon discharged. Nevertheless, he was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
On appeal to the New Mexico Supreme Court, Gilliam challenged the trial court’s instruction to the jury regarding what the prosecution had to establish to prove him guilty. The Supreme Court held, however, that the instruction regarding the handling of a firearm had been correct in that the judge had “told the jury that it was required, to warrant a conviction, to find beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant handled the pistol without due caution and circumspection and that doing so was the proximate cause of the death of Eva Devoll.
more
https://spectator.org/new-mexico-v-alec-baldwin/
