Rust actor and producer Alec Baldwin, after settling civil suit with victim’s family, is charged with involuntary manslaughter in New Mexico after accidental shooting on-set
Fourteen months after an on-set shooting death during the filming of the low-budget Western film “Rust,” New Mexico prosecutors charged actor Alec Baldwin and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed with two counts of involuntary manslaughter. The charges stem from the fatal shooting on October 21, 2022, of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, 42.
Dave Hall, the “Rust” first assistant director, had handed the gun to Baldwin right before the shooting. He has agreed to a plea deal on one charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon. Mr. Hall’s attorney said the plea deal would “put this matter behind him and allow the focus of this tragedy to be on the shooting victims, their family and changing the industry so this type of accident will never happen again.”
Mr. Baldwin, also a producer of the film, recently settled for an unspecified amount of money in a civil case. The family alleged that multiple, dangerous film industry violations by Mr. Baldwin and others involved with safety on the film set caused the death of Ms. Hutchins
The new involuntary manslaughter charges against Mr. Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed are expected to lead to a ripple effect of wide-ranging changes in the film industry. On film sets, “cold guns” have been used for decades, though deaths and serious injuries have occurred rarely. The Associated Press, in 2016, reported in an investigative article that “since 1990, at least 43 people have died on sets in the U.S. and more than 150 have been left with life-altering injuries.”
One of the most famous on-set shooting incidents is the death of actor Brandon Lee, who died while filming the movie “The Crow” in 1993.
In Santa Fe, special prosecutor Andrea Reeb was appointed to manage the case. Ms. Reeb said they are addressing the issue that every victim deserves equal representation under the law, but also that the film industry needs to change the way prop weapons are handled.
“We’re trying to definitely make it clear that everybody’s equal under the law, including A-list actors like Alec Baldwin,” said Reeb. “And we also want to make sure that the safety of the film industry is addressed and things like this don’t happen again.”
At the time of the shooting death, Mr. Baldwin was practicing a specific slow draw with a prop gun and fired the weapon toward Ms. Hutchins. That prop revolver, unbeknown to Mr. Baldwin, had live ammunition in it that killed Ms. Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza, who was wounded but survived.
All parties have repeatedly said that the gun was believed to be a prop gun with no live ammunition. The prop gun was supposed to be a “cold gun,” meaning there would be no live ammunition, including a bullet or blank, of any kind involved. But only part of the chain of events leading to the on-set death is clear since no one knows how real bullets were loaded into the prop gun or who is responsible for the live ammunition placed inside the gun.
Immediately before the shooting tragedy, first assistant director Hall handed the gun to armorer Ms. Gutierrez-Reed, who was responsible for the safety of all weapons on the set. Then, she gave the gun to Mr. Baldwin.
Mr. Baldwin has been adamant since the fatal shooting that he had no idea the gun was loaded with live ammunition. One of his attorneys, Luke Nikas, said the charges are unfair and “represents a terrible miscarriage of justice.”
“Mr. Baldwin had no reason to believe there was a live bullet in the gun — or anywhere on the movie set,” said Nikas in a statement. "He relied on the professionals with whom he worked, who assured him the gun did not have live rounds. We will fight these charges, and we will win.”
The union representing “Rust,” SAG-AFTRA, released a statement saying that Ms. Hutchins’ death was a “preventable” tragedy. However, they added that the shooting death was “not a failure of duty or a criminal act on the part of any performer.”
In the statement, SAG-AFTRA said, “The prosecutor’s contention that an actor has a duty to ensure the functional and mechanical operation of a firearm on a production set is wrong and uninformed. An actor’s job is not to be a firearms or weapons expert.”
However, Mr. Baldwin’s role was also that of producer, a point that will most likely be part of the trial. Stories of budget cuts allegedly creating safety hazards on-set were rife prior to and after the fatal shooting. A producer can be liable for unsafe conditions on a film. The civil lawsuit, settled out of court, had alleged multiple, dangerous film industry violations by Mr. Baldwin and others involved with safety on the film set.
At the time of the fatal shooing, Ms. Hutchins’ family attorney Brian Panish said at a news conference that the film’s producers and film companies “cut corners and chose to hire the cheapest crew available …(and) knowingly hired a wholly unqualified armorer.”
Mr. Baldwin has been vocal about the shooting and his role in the death of Ms. Hutchins, saying he had no idea the gun was loaded, especially since it was handed to him by the armorer. He also questions who put live ammunition in a prop gun, something the investigators still do not know.
“Someone is responsible for what happened, and I can’t say who that is, but I know it’s not me,” he said in the interview.
The official cause of death for Ms. Hutchins is listed as “gunshot wound of chest,” with the manner of her death listed as an “accident.”
In New Mexico, First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said that what happened on the “Rust” set that led to the death of Ms. Hutchins is unacceptable - and avoidable.
“An actor does not get a free pass just because they are an actor,” she said. “There was such a lack of safety on set. Live rounds were mixed in with dummy rounds on the set, and crews were not checking ammunition regularly. Nobody was checking those or at least they weren’t checking them consistently. And then they somehow got loaded into a gun handed off to Alec Baldwin. He didn’t check it. He didn’t do any of the things that he was supposed to do to make sure that he was safe or that anyone around him was safe. And then he pointed the gun at Halyna Hutchins and he pulled the trigger.”
Mr. Baldwin and Ms. Gutierrez-Reed will face a trial by jury in Santa Fe.
If found guilty, Mr. Baldwin and Ms. Gutierrez-Reed guilty would be sentenced accordingly. If found guilty of a firearm enhancement, the party would face a mandatory five-year sentence, and if found guilty of the less serious charge, could serve up to 18 months.
