What with the Trump indictment this one will be getting a lot less coverage now
Former “Rust” assistant director David Halls received a suspended jail sentence after pleading no contest to a lesser charge on Friday, closing the first docket to date in the fatal shooting that lead to manslaughter charges against the film’s star, actor Alec Baldwin.
Following his plea for unsafe handling of a deadly weapon, Halls received a 6-month sentence, which Judge Mary Marlowe Summer immediately suspended for a sentence of “unsupervised probation.”
Halls’s attorney Lisa Torraco noted that her client’s plea isn’t “guilty,” only an acknowledgment that the state could persuade a jury that he is.
“He can’t control how other people handle firearms,” Torraco said, adding that her client is wracked with “survivor’s guilt.”
Calling Halls “extremely traumatized,” Torraco asked for a deferred sentence to allow her client to move on with his life. Halls would open himself to cooperating with the state or the defendants, she said. The judge formalized that offer in a requirement that he testify truthfully in all hearings and trials involving his co-defendants.
Halls must also pay a $500 fine and complete a firearm safety course.
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