Alec Baldwin Shouldn’t Spend 5 Years in Prison for an Accident

Whether or not you agree with the two counts of involuntary manslaughter recently levied against actor Alec Baldwin may depend on your personal feelings toward him—and by extension your feelings toward the Hollywood elite. Baldwin has made no secret of his left-leaning views; his most memorable role of the last several years was arguably his impersonation lampooning former President Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live. He’s not a conservative hero.

Baldwin is also guilty of some pretty unsavory things. As chronicled in 2021 by S.E. Cupp in the New York Daily News, the actor has had a series of high-profile incidents that call into question his, er, judgment, which include using slurs against gay people and assaulting a man over a parking spot.

But having a loathsome past doesn’t render someone guilty of manslaughter. Even the most distasteful defendants deserve the same level of fairness—to have their charges evaluated based solely on the facts at hand. And the charges here are dubious at best, political theater at worst.

In October 2021, Baldwin was on the set of Rust when he shot and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins with a prop gun. The death was ruled an accident, which no one in the case disputes. The prosecution says that shouldn’t matter. “Just because it’s an accident doesn’t mean that it’s not criminal,” said New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies. “Unintentional…means they didn’t mean to do it. They didn’t have the intent to kill. But it happened anyway….They didn’t exercise due caution or circumspection and that’s what happened here.”

If convicted of the first involuntary manslaughter charge, Baldwin faces up to 18 mo