Phillip Bantz News Today

A New Mexico state judge on Friday denied Alec Baldwin's motion to dismiss his indictment on involuntary manslaughter charges in the fatal on-set shooting of a cinematographer during the filming of "Rust" in Santa Fe, rejecting the actor's claims of prosecutorial misconduct before the grand jury.

A New Mexico state judge on Friday rejected "Rust" armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed's emergency motion to be released from custody and given a new trial based on what her attorneys argued were erroneous jury instructions leading to her conviction over the on-set shooting death of a cinematographer.

A New Mexico state jury in the involuntary manslaughter trial of "Rust" film armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed saw behind-the-scenes footage Thursday depicting what an expert witness for the prosecution described as "unsafe" gun handling on set, as well as "nerve-wracking" behavior from actor Alec Baldwin.

An attorney for film prop weapons expert Hannah Gutierrez-Reed told a New Mexico state jury during opening statements in her involuntary manslaughter trial Thursday that the producers of "Rust," including actor Alec Baldwin, used the young armorer as a "scapegoat" in the fatal on-set shooting of a cinematographer.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's porn star hush money case against Donald Trump is set to be the first criminal trial of a former president in U.S. history, a development that carries potential risks and benefits for special counsel Jack Smith, especially as one expert characterized the New York case as "legally and factually weak."

A legal dust-up over compromised text messages between a movie prop weapons expert and her lawyer in the "Rust" film shooting case raises questions about whether attorneys should text with clients and serves as a cautionary tale for prosecutors and the defense on the importance of protecting privileged communications, experts say.

In rejecting Donald Trump's absolute immunity claims in an "exhaustive" opinion Tuesday, the D.C. Circuit put significant pressure on his legal team to quickly seek U.S. Supreme Court review and avoid further delays as prosecutors look to try the former president on election interference charges before November, experts say.

In rejecting Donald Trump's absolute immunity claims in an "exhaustive" opinion Tuesday, the D.C. Circuit put significant pressure on his legal team to quickly seek U.S. Supreme Court review and avoid further delays as prosecutors look to try the former president on election interference charges before November, experts say.

In an abrupt about-face, Donald Trump lawyer Alina Habba on Tuesday dropped claims she made a day earlier raising alarms over a potential conflict involving the New York federal judge who oversaw writer E. Jean Carroll's defamation trials that resulted in $88 million in verdicts — claims that outside experts called flimsy.

While New Mexico prosecutors face difficult odds in their renewed effort to hold Alec Baldwin criminally liable for the shooting death of a cinematographer on the set of Western movie "Rust," experts see potential paths to convicting the actor of involuntary manslaughter in a case that could redefine film industry safety standards.