Alec Baldwin faces jail time for his role on the set of the western ‘Rust,’ in which the film’s cinematographer Halyna Hutchins dies. New Mexico prosecutors have decided to charge the actor with involuntary manslaughter: if found guilty, the ‘Thirty Rock’ star faces between 18 months and five years in prison. “No one below me is above the law,” Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said in announcing the indictment. The decision comes 15 months after the tragic October 2021 incident at Bonanza Creek Ranch near Santa Fe, when a shot was fired from a “live” bullet weapon Baldwin was holding during filming. A bullet hit director Joel Souza in the shoulder and then ricocheted off, killing Hutchins.
“We face a terrible injustice,” the actor responded, reiterating through attorney Luke Nikas that he had no reason to believe there were “live” bullets in this gun. Carmack-Altwies charged Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the on-set maintenance worker, with manslaughter, while assistant director David Halls pleaded guilty to negligent use of a deadly weapon in the delivery of the stallion to Baldwin. The agreement with the public prosecutor’s office provides for a suspended sentence of six months, there are no prison sentences for him. “If any of those three people had done their jobs, Halyna Hutchinson would be alive today,” said Andrea Reeb, the special prosecutor assigned by Carmack-Altwies to investigate the case: “The evidence shows a clear non-compliance with the rules of federal safety at.” Set of Rust. There is no place in New Mexico for film sets that take seriously our obligation to public safety, especially when guns are involved.”
Baldwin has always denied being responsible for Hutchins’ death: “I would never point a gun at someone and then pull the trigger,” the actor said in a December 2021 interview with ABC. He then added that the shot had been fired without he had pulled the trigger and in any case Halls had told him that the pistol was “cold”, meaning that it contained no “live” bullets. Through an attorney, the Hutchins family thanked the prosecutors for their work: “Our independent investigation confirms the allegations,” said attorney Brian Panish, vowing full cooperation with the judiciary “in the hope that justice will be served.” “.
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