One 'Rust' Juror Felt Alec Baldwin's Trial Was 'Harsh' And 'Pointless'

Actor Alec Baldwin might not have needed to be as worried about his "Rust" trial as previously thought.

The 66-year-old actor was on trial for involuntary manslaughter in connection with the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed had already been found guilty and sentenced to 18 months behind bars earlier in the year.

However, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed Baldwin's trial with prejudice on the third day after a crime scene tech disclosed that there was evidence that law enforcement and the prosecution did not turn over to the defense, which is known as a violation of the Brady rule.

On October 21, 2021, a gun that Alec Baldwin was holding for a scene went off, fatally wounding Halyna Hutchins and hospitalizing director Joel Souza. To this day, it remains unclear how live ammunition ended up on the set of a Western film; however, the "30 Rock" actor has vehemently denied that he pulled the trigger.

In the defense's opening statements, lawyer Alex Spiro argued that it was not Baldwin's job, as an actor, to check the gun on set because he trusted the experts around him, like armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, to make sure that the gun was safe to handle. One juror, Martina Marquez, also known as Juror No. 1, felt that the trial against Baldwin was "pointless" and did not think that he should have been on trial at all.

Martina Marquez, an oncology scheduler from New Mexico, felt that she was "open-minded to listening to the facts" at the start of the trial. Marquez told People magazine that, during the first two days of court proceedings, she felt that the "case seemed to be mishandled from the get-go" and pointed to body camera footage worn by police officers in the moments following Hutchins' death.

“Just starting from the lapel cam videos, it didn't make sense how they could point fingers directly towards him as a whole,” she said. Body camera footage from Timoteo Benavidez, a lieutenant with the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office, showed the disorganization of law enforcement as they arrived on the set of the Western film to find Hutchins bleeding out on the floor of a church where the rehearsal had been taking place.

According to the body camera footage, police officers who arrived on the scene could not find the gun that had fired the fatal shot. Eventually, the gun was handed to him by "Rust" armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed; however, it is unclear how she ended up with the gun when Baldwin was the one who had fired it.

Marquez said that "it didn't make sense," adding, “We all watch TV and we watch movies. You're not supposed to really touch evidence and move it from place to place. So that made me iffy about the situation because it could have been in so many people's hands by the time the lieutenant actually confiscated it.”

If she had to place the blame on anyone, Marquez blamed the 27-year-old armorer currently behind bars, stating, “I felt like she was liable for what happened.”

During opening statements, special prosecutor Erlinda Johnson claimed that Baldwin was a "reckless" person who ignored gun safety protocols on set. However, Marquez felt that the incident was "an unfortunate accident" and felt that his indictment charge was "a little bit harsh."

"It didn't need to go this far. And it did seem pointless," Marquez added, noting that she and her fellow jurors followed court instructions and did not discuss the case amongst themselves. However, she did feel that they were "all on the same page."

Marquez was also asked if the prosecution went after Alec Baldwin because he was a celebrity. “I do think they were,” she said. “I feel like they needed to pin [the death] on somebody.”

On July 20, two other jurors involved in the "Rust" case expressed their doubts about Baldwin's culpability in an interview with The New York Times.