More than a year after the tragic accident where cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed by a gunshot fired by actor Alec Baldwin on the set of the movie “Rust”, prosecutors declared that they will be charging both Baldwin and the film’s armorer with involuntary manslaughter, alleging that they failed to adhere to essential firearm safety regulations that could have prevented the death.
In October 2021, tragedy struck the set of the film while they were shooting in New Mexico; Hutchins was killed and director Joel Souza was injured after a prop gun held by Baldwin discharged a live round of ammunition, striking Hutchins in the chest and grazing Souza’s shoulder. Baldwin maintains that he never pulled the trigger and was unaware that the gun contained live rounds, while Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the set armorer who loaded the prop gun, states that she believed the rounds were dummy ammunition, according to her lawyer.
Mary Carmack-Altwies, the prosecutor, announced that Baldwin and Gutierrez Reed will face two counts of involuntary manslaughter each, both of which have different levels of punishment. She stated that if they are convicted, a jury will determine which count is more suitable, and they will only be punished for one count.
“Every person that handles a gun has a duty to make sure that if they’re going to handle that gun, point it at someone and pull the trigger, that it is not going to fire a projectile and kill someone,” New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies told On The Inside Thursday.
If convicted, each defendant will be subject to a punishment of up to 18 months in jail and a $5,000 fine, with one defendant’s case carrying an additional firearms enhancement and mandating a minimum five-year jail sentence.
The prosecutor announced that they will not be requesting the arrests of Baldwin and Gutierrez Reed, but rather they will be summoned to appear in court either physically or virtually. The prosecutors also contend that the careless security rules and disdain for firearms on set that the medical examiner identified were significant factors in Hutchins’ accidental death.
“There was such a lack of safety and safety standards on that set,” Carmack-Altwies told On The Inside, adding that live rounds were mixed with dummy rounds on set. Somehow the live bullets 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.”
An FBI forensics report said that when tested for normal functioning, the gun could not be fired without pulling the trigger while the firearm was cocked. However, during testing, the gun malfunctioned due to internal parts fracturing, causing the gun to go off when the firearm was cocked, without Baldwin having to pull the trigger, as he had suggested.
Carmack-Altwies stated that prosecutors will be charging Baldwin in both his capacity as an actor and producer of “Rust,” since, as a producer, he had a responsibility to make sure the set was safe. Explaining that simply being involved in an accident does not mean the criminal element is absent, Carmack-Altwies concluded, “just because it’s an accident doesn’t mean that it’s not criminal. Our involuntary manslaughter statute covers unintentional killings. Unintentional that means they didn’t mean to do it. They didn’t have the intent to kill. But it happened anyway, and it happened because of more than mere negligence… They didn’t exercise due caution or circumspection and that’s what happened here.”
On The Inside will be following this story very closely and continue to provide any updates regarding the case.