Alec Baldwin could be charged again over fatal shooting on film set

Oct 17, 2023

Alec Baldwin could be charged again with voluntary manslaughter over the fatal shooting on a film set in 2021, prosecutors have said.

A grand jury will be handed evidence in the next two months, New Mexico special prosecutors revealed, adding “additional facts” have come to light over the incident.

“We believe the appropriate course of action is to permit a panel of New Mexico citizens to determine from here whether Mr Baldwin should be held over for criminal trial,” Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis said.

Baldwin, who was starring in and co-producing Western movie Rust, was pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal when it went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza.

The actor said he pulled the hammer of the weapon back, not the trigger, with the gun firing.

Special prosecutors in April dismissed a charge of involuntary manslaughter against Baldwin, saying at the time they were told the weapon could have been modified before the incident.

Since then, lawyers said they saw a new analysis of the gun, which used replacement gun parts after the original was damaged in earlier testing by the FBI.

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The new report looked at the gun and the markings it left on a spent cartridge, finding the trigger had to have been pulled and depressed.

Lawyers acting for Baldwin, Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro of Quinn Emanuel, told Sky News: “It is unfortunate that a terrible tragedy has been turned into this misguided prosecution. We will answer any charges in court.”

Weapons supervisor on the set of Rust, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter and evidence tampering in the case, and will go to trial in February 2024.

Assistant director and safety coordinator David Halls pleaded no contest to unsafe handling of a firearm.

He agreed to cooperate in the case and received a suspended sentence of six months of probation.

Filming has since wrapped on the ill-fated production of Rust, with the crew moving the set from its original Santa Fe base earlier this year.

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