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Alec Baldwin Not at Fault in Movie Set Accident
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Intermediate
Intermediate
Actor Alec Baldwin reacts after the judge threw out the involuntary manslaughter case for the 2021 fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during filming of the Western movie "Rust," Friday, July 12, 2024, at Santa Fe County District Court in Santa Fe, N.M. (Pool Video via AP)

Alec Baldwin Not at Fault in Movie Set Accident

July 13th, 2024

An actor named Alec Baldwin was in court because of an accident during a movie called "Rust." A woman named Halyna Hutchins was taking pictures for the movie and she died when a gun that was supposed to be safe fired a real bullet. Alec Baldwin was the one holding the gun when it happened. The court wanted to decide if Alec Baldwin was responsible, but something went wrong during the trial. The people working for the court did not share some important information with Alec Baldwin's lawyers. Because of this mistake, the judge decided to end the trial and said that Alec Baldwin couldn't be taken to court for this again. Alec Baldwin was very thankful for all the people who supported him and his family. He talked about this on the internet. If he had been found guilty, he might have had to go to prison for a year and a half, but now he is free. After the trial was over, Alec Baldwin did not talk to the people who write news stories. His lawyers and his wife were with him, and they were very close to each other. They left the court together. The person who was in charge of proving Alec Baldwin did something wrong was not happy about the judge's decision. The trial ended very quickly, which was a surprise to many people. Now, Alec won't be in trouble for this accident anymore.
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💭 Discussion Questions


1
. Who was Alec Baldwin in court for?
2
. Why did the judge decide to end the trial?
3
. What did Alec Baldwin do after the trial was over?

📖 Vocabulary


🌐 Cultural context


Alec Baldwin is a well-known actor in the United States. The movie industry there is quite large and has strict safety rules, especially when using props like guns. It is rare for such accidents to happen, but when they do, they are taken very seriously. The legal system handles claims of responsibility and accidents.

🧠 Further reading


Rust (upcoming film)
Rust is a new cowboy movie. It is a story set in the old times in Kansas, USA. It is about an old outlaw named Harland Rust. He is trying to save his young grandson, Lucas Hollister. Lucas did something bad by mistake, and now he is in trouble. Harland and Lucas become criminals on the run. They must escape from two men: a law marshal and a tough hunter named Preacher Lang. Alec Baldwin plays Harland Rust in the movie. He also helps make the movie. Travis Fimmel acts as Preacher Lang. Patrick Scott McDermott is Lucas. Other actors like Frances Fisher and Jake Busey are in the movie too. Some roles in the film are secret. Sadly, when making the movie, a terrible accident happened. A fake gun went off and hurt two people. It killed a woman named Halyna Hutchins. She worked on making the movie look good. Joel Souza, who created the movie, got hurt too. Because of this, making the movie stopped for some time. After this, there were big problems in court. People went there to talk about the accident. Alec Baldwin had to go to court too. Later, they said Alec Baldwin did not have to go to jail. After that, they finished making the movie. Some other people also had to go to court because of the accident. One person who worked with the guns went to jail. In the end, they decided Alec Baldwin did nothing wrong. The law said some people did not tell the truth in court. So they stopped the case against Baldwin. The movie has started and stopped many times. They had to change some actors. But now, the movie is done. It is a story of a grandpa and his grandson trying to be free. They face many dangers and must trust each other.

Presumption of death
Sometimes people go missing and we do not have proof if they are alive or dead. We may think someone is dead if they have been missing for a very long time or if they were in a big accident, like an airplane crash. When we believe a person is dead but do not have their body, we can ask a court to say they are dead. This is important so we can write "dead" on their papers, like their death certificate. The court looks at all the facts and decides if it is likely the person is not alive anymore. For example, if people were on a big ship that sank and they did not get saved, we might say they are dead soon after. This happened after a very big ship, the Titanic, sank a long time ago. Also, when there are very sad events and people go missing, like in New York on September 11, we may say these people are dead quickly too. Soldiers in big fights who we cannot find might also be called dead.

Occupational safety and health
Keeping people safe and healthy at work is very important. There is a special area of work called Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) that looks after this. It makes sure people are safe and well when they do their jobs. OSH is connected to doctors who work at jobs and the cleaning of work places. It also cares for people who might get hurt by someone's job. Every year, many people die because of dangers at work. About 2 million people die because of this around the world. Also every year, more than 2.78 million people die because of accidents or sickness from their job. This means every 15 seconds, one person dies from work-related problems. Many more people, 374 million, get hurt but do not die. These accidents and deaths at work cost a lot of money. In some places, the law says that bosses must keep their workers safe. They have to be careful to make sure that their workers do not get hurt. Some laws might tell bosses specific things they have to do to keep workers safe. There might also be special groups that make sure bosses are keeping workers safe. At work, companies try to stop accidents and sickness. They have special programs to help keep everyone safe and healthy. It is very important to make sure everyone who is working stays safe and well. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) agree on what occupational health means. They first said this in 1950. They believe that keeping workers healthy is very important and they try to keep all workers from getting sick or hurt.