Alec Baldwin's lawyer grills crime scene tech over search for live ammo at his shooting trial — Morgan Lee, Andrew Dalton, Associated Press
Alec Baldwin 's defense attorney questioned a crime scene technician over what he suggested were shoddy and subpar searches for the live ammunition that ended up in the actor's revolver and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
On the second day of Baldwin's New Mexico involuntary manslaughter trial, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer sided with the prosecution in letting in key statements from the actor that demonstrate his knowledge of guns and the impact of blanks.
Earlier, Alex Spiro grilled Santa Fe County sheriff's technician Marissa Poppell in particular over search warrants served on a prop truck a week after the death of Hutchins on the set of the movie "Rust," and on a prop warehouse more than a month after her shooting.
The questions eventually led to Spiro asking Poppell whether police and prosecutors "were just trying to get this over with so that prosecutors could focus on Alec Baldwin?"
"No," she answered.
Spiro followed that with asking, "You personally believe that Alec Baldwin committed no crime, is that correct?"
Poppell answered "no" before special prosecutor Kari Morrissey objected and Marlowe Sommer struck the question and answer.
The questioning mostly centered on the searches of the truck and warehouse of Seth Kenney, an Albuquerque-based ammunition and weapons supplier to "Rust," who forged a cooperative relationship with investigators in the immediate aftermath of the fatal shooting.
Spiro suggested that relationship may have been too close.
"There was a witness there who assisted in the search," Spiro said when asking about the warrant served on the truck. "A man named Seth Kenney. And not only did he assist, he actually was the one that opened the safe."
"Yes, he had the combination to it," Poppell said.
Spiro asked, "Why did law enforcement wait a week to go to the prop truck?"
"The search warrant needed to be written," Poppell replied. "I'm not sure why the time difference exactly."
Spiro responded that a search warrant for the church building set where the shooting took place was obtained in a day.
"If you can do a search warrant in one day for one thing why does it take seven days for something else?"
Spiro asked Poppell, who found a half-dozen live rounds on the set, if she was surprised to find none in the truck.
"Not necessarily," she said.
"You're finding these live rounds all over the set, right?" Spiro asked. Poppell replied yes.
"You go a week later to the prop truck, which has all the ammunition right?" Spiro asked. "And there's not a single live round there, right?"
Poppell replied "yes" to both.
"Let me ask you something," the attorney said eventually. "At any point did you become suspicious of Seth Kenney?"
Poppell answered, "No."
Kenney has not been charged with any wrongdoing. An email sent to his attorney seeking comment was not immediately returned.
Spiro also got Poppell to testify that it could be very difficult to tell the difference between dummy rounds made to appear as onscreen ammunition that were used on the set, and the live rounds that turned the set fatal.
It was an attempt to push back against the key assertion of prosecutors' case: that Baldwin recklessly flouted gun safety.
Poppell later testified that she and two police detectives searched every box in Kenney's warehouse in late November. Spiro picked apart the assertion and eventually got her to concede that some boxes were only shaken or briefly glanced into.
And he asked why apparently no surveillance video was collected from the site despite it being in the search warrant.
"You could have seen Seth Kenney disposing of ammunition in the 40 days between the incident and when you arrived," Spiro said. And it "would've shown whether or not you all really searched the place."
Hutchins' death and the wounding of director Joel Souza nearly three years ago sent shock waves through the film industry. The fatal shooting led to the felony involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin, the 66-year-old star of "30 Rock" and frequent host of "Saturday Night Live," that could result in up to 18 months in prison.
His wife Hilaria Baldwin, younger brother Stephen Baldwin and older sister Elizabeth Keuchler sat behind him in the gallery again Thursday as the trial got off to a stumbling start on its second day.
Seated in two rows of eight each, jurors and alternate jurors scrawled notes as they listened to testimony. Jurors have their own close-up view of visual exhibits, with six monitors installed in the jury box.
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Dalton reported from Los Angeles.
___ For more coverage of Alec Baldwin's involuntary manslaughter trial, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/alec-baldwin
Alec Baldwin cast as reckless flouter of rules at his trial in cinematographer's shooting - By Morgan Lee and Andrew Dalton Associated Press
Prosecutors sought to cast Alec Baldwin as someone who flouts rules and has little regard for safety at the first day of his New Mexico trial in the shooting of a cinematographer.
Special prosecutor Erlinda Ocampo Johnson repeatedly referred to Baldwin playing "make-believe" with a revolver on the set of the film "Rust," and said it led to very real danger and the death of Halyna Hutchins, whom she called "a vibrant 42-year-old rising star."
Ocampo Johnson told jurors in her opening statement Wednesday that Baldwin "requested to be assigned the biggest gun available" and that during a training session for it, he had "people filming him while he's running around shooting this gun."
The prosecutor said behind-the-scenes video will show Baldwin casually disregarding basic firearm safety.
"You will see him using this gun as a pointer to point at people, point at things," Ocampo Johnson said. "You will see him cock the hammer when he is not supposed to cock the hammer, you will see him put his finger on the trigger when his finger's not supposed to be on the trigger."
Hutchins' death and the wounding of director Joel Souza nearly three years ago sent shock waves through the film industry and led to the felony involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin that could result in up to 18 months in prison.
The trial of the 66-year-old star of "30 Rock" and frequent host of "Saturday Night Live" continues Thursday with testimony from a crime scene technician with the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Department.
The beginning of testimony of the technician, Marissa Poppell, allowed jurors to see the revolver and the spent round from the shooting.
Baldwin's lawyer Alex Spiro emphasized in his opening statement that Baldwin did only what actors always do.
"He must be able to take that weapon and use it in the way that the person he's playing would," Spiro told jurors.
That includes pulling the trigger. Baldwin has said the gun fired accidentally, but Spiro said that it still would not be manslaughter even if he had willfully fired it.
"On a movie set, you're allowed to pull that trigger," said Spiro.
Spiro called the shooting an "unspeakable tragedy" and that an "amazing person" dies, but said the responsibility lies with the film's armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who has already been convicted of involuntary manslaughter, and of assistant director David Halls, who told Baldwin the gun was "cold."
"It had been checked and double checked by those responsible for ensuring the gun was safe," Spiro said. "He did not tamper with it, he did not load it himself. He did not leave it unattended."
The first witness to take the stand was Nicholas LeFleur, the first law enforcement officer to arrive at the movie set at Bonanza Creek Ranch after the shooting, and his lapel camera video gave jurors a glimpse of the chaotic scene: a grim view of an apparently unconscious Hutchins as LeFleur and others worked to revive her.
Later in the video, LeFleur can be seen telling Baldwin not to speak to the other potential witnesses, but Baldwin repeatedly does.
"Was Mr. Baldwin supposed to be talking about the incident?" special prosecutor Kari Morrissey asked him.
"No ma'am," LeFleur replied.
"Does he appear to be doing it anyway?" Morrissey asked.
"Yes, ma'am," LeFleur said.
Among those sitting in the gallery behind Baldwin watching the trial were his wife Hilaria Baldwin, younger brother Stephen Baldwin and older sister Elizabeth Keuchler — who wiped away tears at times during the proceedings.
City, county partner to improve access to social services - Elizabeth McCall, City Desk ABQ
This story was originally published by City Desk ABQ
Bernalillo County and the City of Albuquerque are collaborating on an initiative they say will improve access to food, housing and behavioral health services.
The city and county are partnering with the software company Unite Us to offer a “secure and efficient way to connect residents to the services they need,” according to a Bernalillo County news release.
The city and county began working with Unite Us in April and hope to launch the new system later this summer. Doña Ana County, Santa Fe County and Presbyterian Health Services have also collaborated with Unite Us.
“Health is measured in more than just medical care. Food security, housing security, transportation and child care are all critical to the health of our communities, so we’re making sure people can get connected to the right help for them,” Mayor Tim Keller said in the release.
This initiative includes a new digital platform expected to improve the efficiency of the referral process so fewer people are “falling through the cracks,” according to the release.
Katie Simon, spokesperson for the Department of Health, Housing and Homelessness, said the new system is similar to a closed-loop referral system that hospitals use.
“It is like the way hospitals can send patient information and hand off referrals between medical agencies within their own closed-loop network so it keeps privacy protected,” Simon said. “We don’t have a similar system right now for medical to cross over to social service.”
The new system will allow health care providers and community organizations to screen residents for issues like food insecurity or housing instability. Then, a referral can be sent to the appropriate organization so residents receive help.
In the release, Erin Willis, senior director of customer success at Unite Us, said the platform is designed to break down barriers between health care providers and social care service organizations to ensure individuals receive the care they need.
Simon said residents will be able to use the platform themselves to see available services and — if they don’t have access to a device — there are city facilities where they can go to use one in order to get entered onto the platform. She said once the system is launched, there will be more information about how it looks from a user and organization perspective.
Tens of thousands ‘overwhelmingly support’ using Indigenous knowledge to manage Bears Ears - Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico
Five Native American tribes, including two in New Mexico, are joining the federal government in looking over tens of thousands of public comments on the future of the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah.
The three-month public comment period ended on June 11, and more than 20,000 people submitted responses, according to the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition.
The public comments “overwhelmingly supported the use of Traditional Indigenous Knowledge in the management of the Monument,” the Coalition said in a news release on Wednesday.
The tribally informed co-management plan for the national monument is the first of its kind in U.S. history.
The plan is a collaborative approach between the federal government and tribes on how to steward Bears Ears, which can include tribal ancestral history and ideas for protections through land conservation and traditional education.
People from the Zuni Pueblo, Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe, Ute Mountain Tribe, and Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray each have their own cultural and spiritual connections to the land, and say it is a sacred site. The five tribes signed the land management deal in June 2021.
With public comment over, the five tribes acting through the Bears Ears Commission, along with the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, will review the comments and figure out how to incorporate them into the final management plan.
President Joe Biden fully restored the Bears Ears monument in October 2021 after the Trump administration cut it by nearly 2 million acres.
In 2023 a federal judge tossed out a lawsuit by Arizona lawmakers that sought to reverse Biden’s proclamation.
Part of the impetus for the area being designated a national monument was to protect it from future uranium mining, like the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints near the Grand Canyon National Monument.
Biden’s executive action came after the head of the National Park Service said in March 2022 the federal government would make greater efforts to include Native American tribes in decisions involving federal lands.
Group says WQCC member has conflicts of interest - Hannah Grover, New Mexico Political Report
New Energy Economy and other environmental advocates renewed a call for a member of the Water Quality Control Commission to recuse herself from hearing a proposed water reuse rule that centers largely around produced water, a byproduct of oil and gas production.
Krista McWilliams, a member of the WQCC, is married to the owner of LOGOS Resources, an oil and gas company based out of San Juan County. She also works for LOGOS, which is one of the largest operators of natural gas in the San Juan Basin.
That connection to LOGOS, as well as her current position as a board member of the Independent Petroleum Association of New Mexico, prompted the initial call for her to recuse herself from considering the case. Recently, New Energy Economy found a promotional video put out by the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association in which McWilliams touts the benefits of oil and gas extraction. That led to the renewed call for her recusal.
In the video, McWilliams says, “When people hear what I do, I get questions. Fracking. It’s a sensitive subject. I get it. But I feel good about fracking. We’ve been fracking for oil and natural gas for more than 50 years without one case of groundwater contamination. Getting energy here in New Mexico creates jobs and energy security so we don’t have to buy foreign oil. You know, like from Texas.”
New Energy Economy is a vocal critic of the oil and gas industry and opposes the reuse rule. The advocacy group has expressed concerns that the reuse rule will pave the way for produced water to be used outside of the oilfields.
The reuse rule provides regulations for the use of both treated and untreated produced water, including prohibiting discharges of untreated produced water into groundwater or surface waters. It also requires a discharge permit for people using treated produced water that could move directly or indirectly into surface waters or groundwater.
NEE first filed a motion to disqualify McWilliams from hearing the case in June. Navajo environmental advocates Daniel Tso and Samuel Sage, joined NEE in the motion, which consists of more than 300 pages.
“Krista McWilliams appears to stand for beauty and purity in NMOGA’s promotional video while her company, LOGOS, and the fracking industry are actually contaminating the Earth and water,” NEE executive director Mariel Nanasi said in a press release.
Nanasi argued that McWilliams has profited from fracking and alleged that McWilliams covers up the environmental harms that LOGOS and other oil and gas companies are causing in New Mexico. She also alleged that McWilliams “acts as a spokesperson for NMOGA.”
“Her attempts to cleanse the image of oil and gas have been exposed, as well as her obvious bias in this case,” Nanasi said.
In an email to NM Political Report, McWilliams said she hasn’t had any ties to NMOGA for many years.
“The educational video on fracking that the New Energy Economy references was filmed over six years ago,” she said. “At that time, I aimed to provide an industry perspective on the fracking process. I was not aware that NMOGA continues to use this video.”
However, NEE argues that LOGOS is a member of NMOGA and McWilliams’ husband served on the NMOGA board from 2017 to 2021. Additionally, NEE states that McWilliams is on the board of Four Corners Economic Development (4CED) and that NMOGA is a member of 4CED.
In response to NEE’s allegations that she has a conflict of interest and should recuse herself, McWilliams said that she believes her background as an engineer working in the oil and gas industry is among the reasons she was appointed to serve on the WQCC.
“My expertise allows me to offer valuable insights on rules affecting the oil and gas industry, ensuring that the 13-member commission makes informed decisions,” she said.
McWilliams said she stands by her statement that she does not have any conflict of interest and that she does not expect the proposed reuse rule will “give any material benefit to me personally or to LOGOS.”
She further explained that the company hasn’t used produced water “for any purpose other than recycled-reuse use in oil and gas applications and does not plan to do so in the future.”
NEE argues that LOGOS operates the Rosa Recycling and Containment Facility, which has the capacity to hold 600,000 barrels of produced water. This produced water facility is used by the company to reduce its dependence on freshwater resources by recycling the produced water to use in operations.
McWilliams said that she is committed to the Water Quality Act’s objectives of protecting public health and enhancing water quality, even though she is also connected to the industry.
“My obligation is to serve the public interest, not personal or corporate gain,” she said.
Las Vegas urges continued water conservation as flood threat looms – KUNM News
A flood watch is in effect through this evening for parts of northern New Mexico, including Las Vegas, and officials there are urging residents to continue conserving limited water.
Debris from flash foods over burn scars of the 2022 Calf Canyon/Hermit’s Peak Fire overwhelmed the city’s water treatment plant nearly three weeks ago. That prompted a drinking water crisis.
A post on the city government’s web site notes that water reserve numbers have started to plateau. The city is currently treating an average of 1 million gallons per day. But increased monsoon activity could hinder that capacity in coming days.
A pre-water treatment plant from Canada arrived in Las Vegas on July 5th and officials say that should provide a more stable temporary solution for water production as the town works on long-term plans. It’s not clear how quickly that will be brought online.