CNN —
Actor and producer Alec Baldwin has been criminally charged in connection with the 2021 fatal shooting on the set of the movie Rust, the Santa Fe County, New Mexico, district attorney’s office told CNN on Tuesday.
Charges against Baldwin and the gunman on the set, Hannah Guiterrez Reid, include two counts of first degree manslaughter, prosecutors said. Lawyers for the two defendants have previously insisted that their respective clients are innocent.
“Charges of negligent use of a deadly weapon were also filed against ‘Rust’ assistant director David Halls, who pleaded not guilty and entered into a plea agreement pending approval,” according to a media statement issued by the DA’s office.
“Today we took another important step in securing justice for Halina Hutchins,” District Attorney Mary Carmack-Althuis said in a statement to CNN on Tuesday. “No one is above the law in New Mexico and justice will be served.”
Carmack-Althuis told CNN earlier this month that she would charge Baldwin and the film’s gunman with manslaughter, accusing them of failing to follow safety procedures that could have prevented the accident that killed cameraman Halina Hutchins.
Hutchins was struck and killed by live rounds fired from a prop gun held by Baldwin, who claimed he did not pull the gun’s trigger.
Director Joel Souza was also shot and wounded.
Baldwin did not take firearms training seriously on the set of the movie “Rust,” prosecutors said in probable cause documents outlining evidence in the case.
“A training session of at least an hour or more was planned, but the actual training only consisted of approximately 30 minutes because, according to (gunner Hannah Gutierrez) Reed, Baldwin was distracted and talking on his cell phone with his family during training.” , the document states.
Gutierrez Reed is also charged with involuntary manslaughter, with prosecutors saying she failed to insist on safety training for Baldwin, failed to check each round loaded in the firearms and failed to follow proper ammunition storage safety protocols.
“Gutierrez Reid was reckless in her responsibility to ensure the safety of the firearm kit. She failed to correct Baldwin from committing dangerous and reckless safety violations by pointing the weapon at/at people and by keeping his finger on the trigger,” according to the probable cause statement against Gutierrez Reed.
“The photos and videos clearly show Baldwin, multiple times, with his finger inside
on the trigger and on the trigger while manipulating the hammer and while pulling, aiming and retracting the revolver,” prosecutors said.
Repeated testing of the gun by the FBI found it unable to fire without the trigger pulled. In interviews with CNN and ABC, Baldwin claimed he did not pull the trigger.
CNN has reached out to representatives for both Baldwin and Gutierrez Reed.
Baldwin claims he did not know the gun he fired during a rehearsal contained a live ammunition. In a statement to CNN on Jan. 19, his attorney called prosecutors’ decision a “terrible miscarriage of justice.”
“This decision misrepresents the tragic death of Halina Hutchins and represents a terrible miscarriage of justice. Mr. Baldwin had no reason to believe there was a live round in the gun — or anywhere on the set,” Baldwin’s attorney, Luke Nikas, said in a statement.
“He relied on the professionals he worked with who assured him that the gun did not have live ammunition. We will fight these charges and win.
An attorney for Gutierrez Reed said he believes jurors will find his client not guilty.
“We expected the charges, but they are absolutely wrong about Hannah — we expect that she will be found not guilty by a jury and that she did not commit manslaughter,” attorney Jason Bowles said in a statement to CNN earlier this month when first was charged.
“She was emotional about the tragedy, but she committed no crime.”
Baldwin and Gutierrez Reed each face two counts of involuntary manslaughter, so a jury will decide which specific charge might be more appropriate, Carmack-Althuis told CNN.
If found guilty, “they will only be convicted of one count,” the prosecutor said.
In both cases, the conviction is punishable by up to 18 months in prison and a fine of up to $5,000, prosecutors said.
But one count would include a firearms enhancement or an additional penalty because a firearm was involved. In that case, the crime is punishable by up to five years in prison, prosecutors said.
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