A grand jury indicted Alec Baldwin on Friday on an involuntary manslaughter charge in a 2021 fatal shooting during a rehearsal on a movie set in New Mexico, reviving a dormant case against the A-list actor.
Quick Read
- Alec Baldwin Indicted: Alec Baldwin was indicted by a grand jury on an involuntary manslaughter charge related to the 2021 fatal shooting on the “Rust” movie set in New Mexico.
- Case Revival: The case against Baldwin, which had been dormant, was revived following a new analysis of the gun involved in the incident.
- Legal Proceedings: Special prosecutors presented the case to a grand jury in Santa Fe, with crew members testifying as witnesses. Baldwin’s legal team has not commented on the indictment.
- Circumstances of the Shooting: Baldwin, pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal, claimed he did not pull the trigger when the gun discharged, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.
- Civil Lawsuits: Several civil lawsuits seeking compensation from Baldwin and “Rust” producers have been put on hold pending the outcome of the criminal case.
- Gun Analysis: A new analysis of the gun, using replacement parts, suggested that the trigger must have been pulled to release the hammer, contradicting Baldwin’s assertion.
- Other Involved Parties: Weapons supervisor Hannah Gutierrez-Reed pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter and evidence tampering, and assistant director David Halls pleaded no contest to unsafe handling of a firearm.
- FBI Report on the Gun: An earlier FBI report indicated that the type of firearm used could discharge without trigger pull under certain conditions, but testers could only fire it by pulling the trigger or applying external force to the hammer.
- Civil Lawsuit Developments: The shooting led to multiple civil lawsuits, including wrongful death claims by Hutchins’ family. Defendants, including Baldwin, have disputed allegations of lax safety standards.
- Penalties and Resumption of Filming: Rust Movie Productions paid a $100,000 fine for safety violations, and filming of “Rust” resumed in Montana with the agreement of Hutchins’ widower, Matthew Hutchins, who became an executive producer.
The Associated Press has the story:
Grand jury indicts Alec Baldwin in fatal shooting of cinematographer
Newslooks- SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) —
A grand jury indicted Alec Baldwin on Friday on an involuntary manslaughter charge in a 2021 fatal shooting during a rehearsal on a movie set in New Mexico, reviving a dormant case against the A-list actor.
Special prosecutors brought the case before a grand jury in Santa Fe this week, months after receiving a new analysis of the gun that was used.
Baldwin’s legal team did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the indictment, and special prosecutors declined to answer questions after spending about a day and a half presenting their case to the grand jury.
While the proceeding is shrouded in secrecy, two of the witnesses seen at the courthouse included crew members — one who was present when the fatal shot was fired and another who had walked off the set the day before due to safety concerns.
Baldwin, the lead actor and a co-producer on the Western movie “Rust,” was pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal on a movie set outside Santa Fe in October 2021 when the gun went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza.
Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer, but not the trigger, and the gun fired.
Judges recently agreed to put on hold several civil lawsuits seeking compensation from Baldwin and producers of “Rust” after prosecutors said they would present charges to a grand jury. Plaintiffs in those suits include members of the film crew.
Special prosecutors dismissed an involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin in April, saying they were informed the gun might have been modified before the shooting and malfunctioned. They later pivoted and began weighing whether to refile a charge against Baldwin after receiving a new analysis of the gun.
The analysis from experts in ballistics and forensic testing relied on replacement parts to reassemble the gun fired by Baldwin, after parts of the pistol were broken during testing by the FBI. The report examined the gun and markings it left on a spent cartridge to conclude that the trigger had to have been pulled or depressed.
The analysis led by Lucien Haag of Forensic Science Services in Arizona stated that although Baldwin repeatedly denied pulling the trigger, “given the tests, findings and observations reported here, the trigger had to be pulled or depressed sufficiently to release the fully cocked or retracted hammer of the evidence revolver.”
The weapons supervisor on the movie set, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter and evidence tampering in the case. Her trial is scheduled to begin in February.
“Rust” assistant director and safety coordinator David Halls pleaded no contest to unsafe handling of a firearm last March and received a suspended sentence of six months of probation. He agreed to cooperate in the investigation of the shooting.
An earlier FBI report on the agency’s analysis of the gun found that, as is common with firearms of that design, it could go off without pulling the trigger if force was applied to an uncocked hammer, such as by dropping the weapon.
The only way the testers could get it to fire was by striking the gun with a mallet while the hammer was down and resting on the cartridge, or by pulling the trigger while it was fully cocked. The gun eventually broke during testing.
The 2021 shooting resulted in a series of civil lawsuits, including wrongful death claims filed by members of Hutchins’ family, centered on accusations that the defendants were lax with safety standards. Baldwin and other defendants have disputed those allegations.
The Rust Movie Productions company has paid a $100,000 fine to state workplace safety regulators after a scathing narrative of failures in violation of standard industry protocols, including testimony that production managers took limited or no action to address two misfires on set before the fatal shooting.
The filming of “Rust” resumed last year in Montana, under an agreement with the cinematographer’s widower, Matthew Hutchins, that made him an executive producer.
