New Mexico prosecutors overseeing the on-set shooting of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins have dropped the involuntary manslaughter charges against Alec Baldwin. The charges against Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed remain in place, and her attorney has said she’ll plead not guilty.
Hutchins, 42, was killed and director Joel Souza, 49, was wounded in October 2021, when a gun Baldwin was holding during rehearsal fired off a live round.
Referring to “new facts” in the case, special prosecutors Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis explained that it was impossible to “proceed under the current time constraints and on the facts and evidence turned over by law enforcement in its existing form.”
“We therefore will be dismissing the involuntary manslaughter charges against Mr. Baldwin to conduct further investigation,” their statement continued. “This decision does not absolve Mr. Baldwin of criminal culpability and charges may be refiled.”
They added that their follow-up investigation “will remain active and ongoing.”
New evidence comes to light
A source told CNN that investigators have become aware of new evidence indicating that the gun which went off on set had been modified before it arrived. According to The New York Times, this undermined the prosecution’s argument that Baldwin must have pulled the trigger for the gun to go off.
On the day of the accident, Baldwin had reportedly been assured that the vintage revolver he was practicing with was “cold,” meaning it didn’t contain live ammunition. He has remained steadfast in his claim that never pulled the trigger.
Speaking to ABC News in 2021, Baldwin stressed: “I would never point a gun at anyone and pull the trigger at them. Never.”
“Someone is responsible for what happened, and I can’t say who that is,” he continued. “But I know it’s not me.”
An FBI forensics report concluded that the weapon wouldn’t have fired had the trigger not been pulled — but this fresh evidence appears to have refuted that.
After the news of his reprieve broke, Baldwin posted a photo of himself hugging his wife Hilaria, captioned “I owe everything I have to this woman. (and to you, Luke)”
It’s a fair guess that the “Luke” Baldwin was referring to was one of his attorneys.
“We are pleased with the decision to dismiss the case against Alec Baldwin and encourage a proper investigation into the facts and circumstances of this tragic accident,” Baldwin’s attorneys Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro told CNN on April 20.
Gutierrez Reed‘s lawyers say they’re confident that she’ll be exonerated in due course.
Gutierrez Reed’s potential prison sentence has already been reduced from 5 years to a maximum of 18 months, since prosecutors removed a firearm enhancement charge.
Filming to resume next week
Filming on Rust has been moved from New Mexico to Montana, where the production is set to resume next week. Ms. Hutchins’s widower, Matthew Hutchins, will act as an executive producer.
The production company agreed in February to pay a reduced settlement of $100,000 to the New Mexico Occupational Health and Safety Bureau. The agency had claimed that the production committed a “willful” violation of safety rules — the most serious breach of OSHA’s enforcement system — and issued the maximum $136,793 penalty. It has now dropped the production’s violation to a “serious” citation, and Rust producers won’t be required to admit civil liability.
