Alec Baldwin charged with manslaughter in Rust shooting

Alec Baldwin and the toolmaker Hannah Gutierrez Reed will both be charged with two counts of manslaughter in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the western film Rust. After a more than year-long investigation into the Oct. 21 incident, the Santa Fe County District Attorney, Mary Carmack-Altwies, announced the charges today.

42-year-old Hutchins died after the gun Baldwin was holding for rehearsal fired a live bullet into her chest, going through it and hitting the writer-director Joel Souza to the shoulder. The assistant director of the film, Dave Hallsnamed in sheriff’s reports as the person who gave Baldwin the gun and announced to the crew that it was a “blank gun,” signed a plea deal with the District Attorney over charges of negligent use of a a lethal weapon, accepting a suspended sentence and six months of probation.

The district attorney has appointed the special prosecutor Andrea Reeb to oversee the case: “If any of these three people – Alec Baldwin, Hannah Gutierrez Reed or David Halls – had done their job, Halyna Hutchins would be alive today. The evidence clearly shows a pattern of criminal disregard for safety on the film set Rust. There is no room in New Mexico for movie sets that don’t take our state’s commitment to gun safety and public safety seriously.”

No charges will be filed for Souza’s wounding. The district attorney’s spokeswoman Heather Brewer he explained that there is no statute in New Mexico for unintentional battery, unless the shooting leads to death.

Baldwin’s attorney, Luke Nikas, to Vanity Fair America released this statement following the announcement: “This decision upends the tragic death of Halyna Hutchins and represents a terrible mistrial. Mr. Baldwin had no reason to believe there was a bullet in the gun or anywhere else on the movie set. He relied on the professionals he worked with, who assured him the gun did not contain live bullets. We will fight these accusations and we will win.”

Gutierrez Reed’s attorney, jason bowles, he has already said that the woman was working under conditions of distraction and stress as she readied the gun. Following the prosecutor’s announcement, she released this statement: “Hannah is she, and always has been her, very sad about this tragic incident. But she didn’t commit manslaughter. The allegations are the result of a very flawed investigation and an imprecise understanding of the facts. We intend to bring the whole truth to light and believe that Hannah will be cleared by the jury.”

In addition to the bullet that killed Hutchins, investigators found five other live bullets mixed in among the film’s props and costumes. Two loose .45-caliber bullets were discovered on top of a prop, a third was in a bandolier worn by the actor Jensen Ackles, a fourth was in a gun belt worn by Baldwin and a fifth was found in a box of dummy ammunition with Gutierrez Reed’s fingerprints on it. (Dummy ammunition is dummy bullets that look real, but are completely inert and contain no gunpowder.)

Contrary to online rumors, investigators found no evidence that other crew members took up prop weapons on Rust and loaded them with live ammunition for practice on the desert set.

The allegations against all three individuals reflect the fact that Hutchins’ death appears to be the result of numerous errors and omissions during production, a cascading event described in the previous investigation of Vanity Fair America.

Two competing charges

Baldwin and Gutierrez Reed will each face two charges of manslaughter because the jury will have to choose between the two counts.

According to the District Attorney’s announcement: “The first charge can be defined simply manslaughter. For this charge to be proven, there must be underlying negligence. Under New Mexico law, manslaughter is a fourth-degree felony and is punishable by up to 18 months in prison and a $5,000 fine. This charge also includes the charge of negligence in the use of a firearmwhich will likely be based on a matter of law.

“The other charge is manslaughter while performing a lawful act”, continues the statement, “and requires proof that the death occurred from more than simple negligence. This is a fourth-degree felony punishable by up to 18 months in prison and up to a $5,000 fine. This charge provides for a firearms aggravation, i.e. a mandatory additional penalty because a firearm was involved. The aggravating circumstance of the firearm makes the crime punishable by a mandatory sentence of five years in prison”.

“There is a very clear process for pursuing justice in this case,” Carmack-Altwies said in a statement, “and we are committed to upholding the integrity of this process to ensure fair justice under the law.”

According to Carmack-Altwies, the charges will be formally filed in the First Judicial Court of New Mexico by the end of the month. The defendants will receive a subpoena and will have to make a “first appearance”, a procedure which in other jurisdictions is often referred to as a “subpoena”, the statement said. A procedure that can take place virtually, or the defendants can waive the appearance.

At that point a preliminary hearing will be held, most likely in the next couple of months, where the prosecution will present the case to a judge, who will decide whether the trial should go ahead.

Last April, the New Mexico Division of Occupational Safety imposed a maximum fine on manufacturers for unsafe handling of firearms.

In October, Baldwin announced that he and the other producers of Rust they had reached a agreement with the Hutchins family and that her husband Matt would join the unfinished project as an executive producer. Lawyers for the Hutchins family recently declined to comment on the status of the settlement. Filming on the film was reportedly set to resume as early as this month, but that hasn’t happened yet.