Alec Baldwin's Lawyer Says 'Rust' OSHA Report "Exonerates Mr. Baldwin"

An attorney for Alec Baldwin said today that Wednesday’s report by the New Mexico safety regulators “exonerates” his client. The report cites “serious management failures” by the Rust production company in its investigation of the on-set shooting that killed DP Halyna Hutchins and badly injured director Joel Souza last year.

“We are grateful to the New Mexico Occupational Health and Safety Bureau for investigating this matter,” Luke Nikas wrote in a post on Baldwin’s Instagram page (see it below). “We appreciate that the report exonerates Mr. Baldwin by making clear that he believed the gun held only dummy rounds and that his authority on the production was limited to approving script changes and creative casting. Mr. Baldwin had no authority over the matters that were the subject of the Bureau’s findings of violations, and we are pleased that the New Mexico authorities have clarified these critical issues. We are confident that the individuals identified in the report will be held accountable for this tragedy.”

The report concludes that Rust Movie Productions LLC’s management “knew that firearm safety procedures were not being followed on set and demonstrated plain indifference to employee safety by failing to review work practices and take corrective action.”

Environmental Cabinet Secretary James Kenney said Wednesday that “there were serious management failures and more than sufficient evidence to suggest that if stardard industry practices were followed, the fatal shooting of Halyna Hutching and the serious injury to Joel Souza would not have occurred. … This is a complete failure of the employer to follow recognized national protocols that keep employees safe.”

https://deadline.com/2022/04/alec-baldwin-lawyer-says-osha-report-exonerates-baldwin-1235007363/

Angry traveler threatens Jet Blue employee over delayed flight

Store owner shot girl who was waiting to take photo with Easter bunny while firing at shoplifters

VICTORVILLE, Calif. (KABC) -- A man has been arrested for mistakenly shooting a 9-year-old girl as he chased two shoplifters out of his store in a Victorville mall Tuesday evening, authorities say.

Marqel Cockrell, a co-owner of Sole Addicts, fired multiple shots in the shoplifter's direction but missed and struck the girl instead, according to the Victorville Police Department. Cockrell fled the scene after the shooting and was later found by Nevada Highway Patrol.

The 20-year-old, of Adelanto, was booked at the Clark County Jail for attempted murder and is being held on $1,000,000 bail. He'll likely face extradition back to California.

(snip)

Social media posts that appear to be from the girl's family say she was shot twice in the arm while in line to get her picture taken with the Easter bunny. She is expected to be OK.

https://abc7.com/victorville-mall-shooting-arrest-shoplifters/11744517/

A call, a text, an apology: How an abortion arrest shook up a Texas town

Calixtro Villarreal’s phone rang Saturday afternoon, about 48 hours after his client, Lizelle Herrera, was arrested and charged with murder — over what local authorities alleged was a “self-induced abortion.”

It was Gocha Ramirez, the district attorney in Starr County, Tex., a remote area on the border with Mexico. Herrera should never have been charged, Ramirez told the lawyer, according to a person familiar with the situation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private interactions.

The district attorney reiterated that sentiment in a text he sent the next day to an acquaintance. “I’m so sorry,” he wrote in the message, which was reviewed by The Washington Post. “I assure you I never meant to hurt this young lady.”
(snip)

However, interviews with several people in the South Texas community closely following the situation, as well as statements from leaders in the Texas antiabortion movement, suggest this was not part of a broader antiabortion strategy, but instead a hasty error by a first-term Democratic district attorney. Herrera’s husband -- who filed for divorce on the same day as her arrest -- is being represented by a prosecutor in the district attorney’s office, raising questions about potential conflicts of interest.

(snip)

Her husband, Ismael Herrera, filed a divorce petition on April 7, the same day as her arrest, according to court documents. They married in 2015, when she was 19 years old, and stopped living together on or about Jan. 1, according to the records. The separation occurred less than a week before the “self-induced abortion” described in her indictment. The couple have two sons, according to the records.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/04/13/texas-abortion-arrest/