Actor Alec Baldwin and a weapons specialist will be charged with manslaughter in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer killed on a New Mexico set, prosecutors announced Thursday, citing a “criminal disregard for safety.”
Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Althuis issued a statement announcing the charges against Baldwin and Hannah Gutierrez Reed, who controlled the guns on the set of the western movie Rust.
Halina Hutchins died shortly after being wounded while rehearsing for Rust at a ranch outside Santa Fe on October 21, 2021. Baldwin had pointed a gun at Hutchins when the gun went off, killing her and injuring director Joel Souza.
Assistant director David Halls, who handed Baldwin the gun, has signed a plea agreement to negligent use of a deadly weapon, the district attorney’s office said.
Manslaughter can include killing that occurs while the accused is doing something that is legal but dangerous and acts carelessly or without caution.
The charge is a fourth-degree felony punishable by up to 18 months in prison and a $5,000 fine under New Mexico law. The charges also include a provision that could result in a mandatory five years in prison because the crime was committed with a gun.
Carmack-Althuis said charges will be filed by the end of January and that Baldwin and Gutierrez Reed will receive summonses to appear in court. She said prosecutors will forgo a grand jury and rely on a judge to determine whether there is probable cause to go to trial.
Andrea Rieb, the special prosecutor on the case, pointed to a “pattern of criminal disregard for safety” on the set.
“If any of those three people — Alec Baldwin, Hannah Gutierrez Reed or David Halls — had done their job, Halina Hutchins would be alive today. It’s that simple,” said Reeb, also a recently sworn-in state legislator.
WATCH | Footage from the set of Rust has been released:
Video released of Baldwin filming on the set of the movie Rust
The Santa Fe County, New Mexico, Sheriff’s Office has released body camera footage of an officer following the fatal shooting on the set of the movie Rust. A video of actor Alec Baldwin practicing with his gun was also released.
Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza, who led the initial investigation into Hutchins’ death, described “some degree of neglect” on the set. But he left decisions on potential criminal charges up to prosecutors after presenting the results of a yearlong investigation in October. This report does not specify how the live rounds ended up on the set.
Baldwin – known for his roles on 30 Rock and The Hunt for Red October and his impression of former US President Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live – described the killing as a “tragic accident”.
He tried to clear his name by suing people involved in the handling and delivery of the loaded gun that was given to him on set. Baldwin, also a Rust co-producer, said he was told the gun was safe.
In his lawsuit, Baldwin said that while he was working on camera angles with Hutchins during a rehearsal for a scene, he pointed the gun in her direction and pulled back and released the weapon’s firing pin, which discharged.
A musician plays the violin behind a photo of filmmaker Halina Hutchins during a vigil in her honor in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on October 23, 2021. (Andres Leighton/Associated Press)
The New Mexico Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the shooting an accident after completing an autopsy and reviewing law enforcement reports.
The New Mexico Bureau of Occupational Safety and Health imposed the maximum fine on Rust Movie Productions based on a scathing account of safety lapses, including testimony that production managers took little or no action to address two failed firings of blank cartridges at the set before the fatal shooting.
Rust Movie Productions continues to challenge the grounds for a $137,000 fine in the US by regulators, who say production managers on set failed to follow standard industry protocols for firearms safety.
The gunsmith under strict control
The gunsmith who handled the firearms on the set, Gutierrez Reed, was the subject of much of the scrutiny in the case, along with an independent ammunition supplier. An attorney for Gutierrez Reed said she did not put a live round in the gun that killed Hutchins and believes it was the victim of sabotage. Authorities said they found no evidence of that.
Investigators initially found 500 rounds of ammunition on the set on the outskirts of Santa Fe – a mix of blanks, dummies and what appeared to be live rounds. Industry experts said live shows should never be staged.
In April 2022, the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Department released a set of files, including lapel camera video of the mortally wounded Hutchins passing in and out of consciousness as a medical helicopter arrived. Witness interviews, emails, text conversations, ammunition inventories and hundreds of photographs round out the collection of evidence.
State workplace safety regulators said immediate gun safety concerns were resolved when Rust stopped filming and that the return to filming in New Mexico would be accompanied by new safety checks.
Hutchins’ family — widower Matthew Hutchins and his son Andros — settled a lawsuit against the producers under a settlement that aims to resume filming with Matthew Hutchins as an executive producer.
Rust was mired in controversy from the start in early October 2021. Seven crew members walked off the set just hours before the fatal shooting amid disagreements over working conditions.
Hutchins’ death affected negotiations over safety provisions in the film crew’s union contracts with Hollywood producers and encouraged other filmmakers to opt for computer-generated images of gunfire instead of real guns firing blanks to minimize the risks.
Add Comment