A New Mexico grand jury has charged Alec Baldwin with involuntary manslaughter for his role in the deadly shooting of the cinematographer during production of the ill-fated western movie, “Rust.”
The indictment, filed Friday, was signed by special prosecutor Kari T. Morrissey, who has been handling the case.
If convicted of the charge, a fourth-degree felony, Baldwin could serve up to 18 months in prison, according to New Mexico law.
The high-stakes decision to charge Baldwin comes nearly two years after Baldwin accidentally shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and director Joel Souza during a Oct. 21, 2021, rehearsal in an old western church at Bonanza Creek Ranch, a popular high desert movie location south of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Hutchins died that afternoon and Souza, who was shot in the shoulder, recovered.
“We look forward to our day in court,” said Baldwin’s attorneys Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro in a statement.
New Mexico’s wrongful death prosecution has been fraught. In January, the district attorney who oversees Santa Fe County, Mary Carmack-Altwies, filed two involuntary manslaughter charges against Baldwin as well as the film’s cinematographer Hannah Gutierrez Reed, who loaded the gun. Carmack-Altwies said at the time that “sufficient evidence” existed to charge Baldwin criminally.
But after Carmack-Altwies stepped down from the case, Morrissey and Lewis took over as special prosecutors. In late April, they dropped the charges against the 65-year-old Hollywood star.
“New facts were revealed that demand further investigation and forensic analysis,” Morrissey said then. Sources who were not authorized to comment said prosecutors were told the gun had been modified before being delivered to the set.
The actor has long maintained that he didn’t pull the trigger, only that he pulled back the gun’s hammer. When Baldwin was handed the gun, he was told that it was “cold,” meaning it had no ammunition. However, the gun contained five so-called dummy rounds and one live bullet.
A respected firearms expert, Lucien C. Haag, was brought in by prosecutors to determine whether the Italian-made Pietta pistol, a replica of a vintage 1873 model, was functional or faulty, which could have contributed to the deadly accident on set.
“Although Alec Baldwin repeatedly denies 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,” Haag wrote in his Aug. 3 report.
The weapons provider, Seth Kenney, said in a July witness interview that the gun Baldwin used was new. Kenney said he had just received it from a California supplier, via Federal Express, and he transferred it to the prop master who was hired to work on “Rust.”
Baldwin was one of the producers of “Rust.” The star — who achieved acclaim for performances on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” and “30 Rock,” as well as movies “Glengarry Glen Ross,” and “The Hunt for Red October,” among others — could now face a criminal trial or accept a plea bargain.
Gutierrez Reed still faces the involuntary manslaughter charges. The judge overseeing the criminal case, Mary Marlowe Sommer, has scheduled a Feb. 21 trial for Gutierrez Reed. She has pleaded not guilty.
Investigators have not identified the source of the live bullets — six were found on set.
“Rust” producers were determined to finish the story of Harland Rust, a fictional 1880s Kansas outlaw, played by Baldwin. They resumed filming the movie in Montana last spring, after Morrissey and Lewis dropped the initial charges against Baldwin.
Producers have said the movie will be a tribute to Hutchins, the 42-year-old film cinematographer who died.
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