Hollywood actor Alec Baldwin was charged with involuntary manslaughter on Tuesday for showing a "reckless" disregard for safety that led to the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the Western movie "Rust" in New Mexico in 2021.
District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies, the top prosecutor for Santa Fe, filed charges following months of speculation as to whether she had evidence that Baldwin acted with criminal negligence when a revolver with which he was rehearsing fired a live round that killed Hutchins.
Baldwin and Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer for the western, were each charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter. The most serious charge, which carries a potential sentence of five years in jail, would require prosecutors to convince a jury that Baldwin acted with willful disregard for the safety of others.
Baldwin's case is remarkable as there is little or no precedent for a Hollywood actor to face criminal charges for an on-set shooting.
The "30 Rock" actor's failure to get sufficient firearms training, check with the armorer whether the revolver was loaded, or address safety complaints from the crew were cited by Shilling as some of his many "extremely reckless acts or reckless failures to act" in the 10 days leading up to Hutchins' death.
Baldwin has denied responsibility for the shooting inside a movie-set church, saying Hutchins directed him to point the gun at the camera, and he cocked the revolver but never pulled the trigger.
The actor said live ammunition should never have been allowed on the set and it was the job of Gutierrez-Reed and first assistant director Dave Halls to ensure the gun was unloaded, a position supported by many actors and the SAG-AFTRA union.
"Videos from inside the church prior to the shooting show Baldwin with his finger on the trigger", Shilling said.
An FBI forensic test of the revolver found it "functioned normally" and would not fire without the trigger being pulled.
"Baldwin would have been better served not making public statements about these incidents," said Kate Mangels, an attorney with entertainment law firm Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump Holley.
Nevertheless, prosecutors could face long odds convincing a jury Baldwin is criminally liable as he was assured the gun was not loaded and it will be difficult to blame him for all the movie's alleged safety failures, legal analysts said.
Live Rounds
Prosecutors held Gutierrez-Reed responsible for "allowing live ammunition on the set", but did not accuse her of physically introducing them into the production.
Gutierrez-Reed has said she brought two boxes of dummy rounds onto the set from a previous movie. Supply company PDQ Arms and Prop also provided dummy rounds and blanks.
An FBI test found live long Colt .45 rounds taken from PDQ in Albuquerque did not match those found at the movie set, including the round that killed Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza.
As armorer responsible for firearm safety and training, Gutierrez-Reed failed to provide sufficient instruction to Baldwin, check rounds loaded into the revolver, or remain present in the rehearsal to ensure the actor did not point the weapon at Hutchins, the special investigator said.
Gutierrez-Reed has said she checked that the rounds were dummies before handing the gun to Halls and leaving the church due to COVID protocols. Halls then handed it to Baldwin, telling the actor it was "cold", an industry term meaning it did not contain live ammunition or blank rounds.
Halls has signed a plea deal for a misdemeanor charge and is expected to cooperate with the prosecution.
Her lawyer Jason Bowles said Halls, her senior in the production, was at fault for not calling Gutierrez-Reed back into the church to perform her armorer duties.
The defendants face a court arraignment, which can be done virtually, then a preliminary hearing where a judge will determine if there is probable cause to move forward with a trial.
Preliminary hearings are typically scheduled within 60 days of charges being filed.
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