Alec Baldwin is producing and starring in the western Rust, which resumed filming 18 months after the tragedy. – (AFP)
Legal victory for Alec Baldwin. The Santa Fe (New Mexico) prosecutor’s office this Thursday dropped the two charges against the 65-year-old actor, whose career was marked by the Rust tragedy. Filming on the western, which he is producing and starring in, recently resumed 18 months after cinematographer Halyna Hutchins died in October 2021 from a bullet fired from a revolver in the actor’s hands. The interpreter faced a charge of involuntary manslaughter, but his defense had developed an aggressive strategy against the prosecutors who brought the charges.
“We are pleased with the decision to drop the charges against Alec Baldwin and begin a fair investigation into the facts and circumstances of the tragic accident,” Baldwin’s defense attorneys Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro told NBC. The actor’s attorneys had already won several victories against the Santa Fe prosecutor’s office, for example they managed to drop a serious charge of carrying weapons, which reduced the likelihood that the actor would go to jail if the trial was found guilty should start within two weeks.
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The judge was due to decide in May whether to uphold the “accidental homicide” charge against Baldwin and Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the gun shop chief. The actor pleaded not guilty in a video conference last February. The actor claimed he never pulled the trigger, just hammered the Colt 45 he used to fire at Halyna Hutchins. However, an FBI investigation denied this: Baldwin fired.
The newspaper “Los Angeles Times” assures that sources do not rule out the possibility of new, albeit less serious, charges being brought against the actor. The newspaper confirms that the revolver’s trigger was modified before it arrived on the film set, resulting in the gun being accidentally fired.
Perhaps the most resounding victory for the law firm defending Baldwin was the prosecutors’ withdrawal from the case. Andrea Reeb, a former prosecutor who was also a Republican congressman in the New Mexico House of Representatives, impeached. Baldwin’s attorneys argued that a member of the legislature could not serve in the judiciary. Reeb handed in his resignation in mid-March.
Both Reeb and prosecutor Mary Carmack-Altwies claimed the actor failed to follow basic safety procedures, instead maintaining a “reckless” and “dangerous” use of the revolver that killed Hutchins while he was rehearsing how to draw on camera The projectile, which was real and not an empty bullet, hit the filmmaker in the chest and injured the film’s director, Joel Souza, saving his life.
In a news conference, prosecutors argued that Baldwin committed “at least a dozen omissions or omissions, not counting reckless use of the weapon,” they said. For her part, gunsmith Hannah Gutierrez-Reed faces charges of “negligent homicide” after at least five real bullets were found in the production’s props.
After Reeb’s departure, von Carmack-Altwies followed. In late March, the Santa Fe County Commissioner also dropped the case, leaving it to two local attorneys, Kari Morrisey and Jason Lewis. “My responsibility to the people of the First Circuit is greater than any individual case,” he said.
A New Ending for Rust
The film’s producers intend to do away with Rust’s macabre fame in Hollywood. The production has announced that it will resume filming at the Yellowstone Ranch in Montana. Melina Spadone, one of the producer’s attorneys, assured the Associated Press that filming would begin Thursday. The company has already paid a $100,000 fine for serious workplace safety violations.
The actor and the main role will continue to be involved in the film. Halyna Hutchins’ widower, Matthew Hutchins, has been named executive producer and will pocket any proceeds the film earns when it opens.
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