Alec Baldwin’s Wife And Crying Baby at Santa Fe Trial, Publicity Stunt Backfires
Hilaria Baldwin shows up for jury selection in manslaughter trial, Actor wins a big legal decision
Alec Baldwin's planned PR stunt for sympathy at his manslaughter trial backfired badly.
Baldwin showed up Tuesday morning outside court with his wife Hilaria and the youngest of their seven kids. Hilaria — who lied for years about being from Spain — held the baby girl for a photo op and then put her on the ground in front of the press.
Next, Baldwin came from his separate black SUV and walked over to his wife and baby as the cameras rolled. He tried to get the baby to “come to daddy,” but he didn’t succeed. Watch here.
The Baldwins’ photo op seemed to work with the clicking of cameras. The actor then left his family and walked ahead into the courthouse for the start of jury selection for his manslaughter trial.
But when Hilaria handed the baby to a nanny, the child started screaming and crying in front of the press. You can watch the crying baby video here, courtesy of Angenette Levy from the Law & Crime network.
Baldwin’s wife looked back once at the baby crying but kept walking into court. They left the impression of uncaring parents who used their child as a prop. The stunt was a failure.
Baldwin’s Monday Surprise
As I’m registered media for the trial, I’m on the court’s public affairs media advisory list. They warned that Baldwin was not supposed to be in court on Monday for pretrial hearings. He filed this waiver of personal appearance for all pretrial proceedings in the case.
However, Baldwin surprised everyone by showing up with his legal team and walking into the courthouse to a pool of photographers.
Once seated at the defense table on camera, the actor appeared calm and neutral during the proceedings. He wore black-rimmed glasses, a suit and tie and close-shaven gray hair. His lack of reactions showed he was media-trained and well-prepared by his defense team.
Part of the intrigue of this trial is whether he will lose his cool during the testimony. Remember, Baldwin punched a man over a parking spot. He recently knocked the phone out of the hand of an annoying protestor.
Baldwin’s Big Win
Baldwin's defense scored a significant victory when Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer ruled that the special prosecutors could not introduce evidence about Baldwin's role as a producer for "Rust."
This limits the state's ability to argue that Baldwin was responsible for the set's safety issues, focusing the case solely on his actions as an actor handling the gun. This greatly narrows the state’s ability to give the jury options on why to convict him.
Baldwin’s expensive legal team— Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro— is very talented and seemed to quickly overpower New Mexico State Prosecutor Kari Morrissey. The defense cannot be underestimated to convince a jury that there is reasonable doubt that Baldwin is guilty of recklessness with a gun.
Guilty or Not?
Almost three years ago, I bucked the big media narrative that Baldwin would get away with it because he’s an actor. I wrote in my first story to you after the shooting:
The Hollywood version of the Alec Baldwin story is that the actor killed a woman with a prop gun and a blank and is not at fault.
The true story is that Baldwin shot two people with a real gun and did not follow firearm safety rules.
I believe that is still the simple case now. Baldwin does not get special legal privileges for being an actor. He failed to check if the gun was loaded with a real bullet, pointed it directly at Halyna Hutchins and pulled the trigger—a fact that will be confirmed by expert witnesses.
Covering the Trial
After reading some of your encouraging comments in my last email, I finally decided Sunday night to buy a one-way ticket to Santa Fe and book a hotel. I was excited to cover the trial directly from the courthouse, even if I couldn’t get a seat in the courtroom.
For the first time, I was traveling without being paid by a media outlet that would also cover my travel costs. Your financial support would have been crucial for this independent reporting effort.
However, as I watched the televised pretrial hearings on Monday, I saw very little public or media attention for the trial. Pres. Biden’s death watch has completely taken over the news (rightly so.) Even if I managed to get an exclusive scoop from sources on the ground, my work probably would not get much readership.
It’s hard to say if the Baldwin trial will gain traction in the way the ones for Johnny Depp and Alex Murdaugh did. The second week of the trial is more unlikely to see a surge in interest since it overlaps with the RNC Convention, where Donald Trump will be the center of attention.
Late last night,