Grand jury in New Mexico charged the actor for a shooting on Rust set that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins

Grand jury in New Mexico charged the actor for a shooting on Rust set that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins

Actor Alec Baldwin is facing a new involuntary manslaughter charge over the 2021 fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of the movie Rust.

A Santa Fe, New Mexico, grand jury indicted Baldwin on Friday, months after prosecutors had dismissed the same criminal charge against him.

During an October 2021 rehearsal on the set of Rust, a western drama, Baldwin was pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins when it went off, fatally striking her and wounding Joel Souza, the film’s director.

Baldwin, a co-producer and star of the film, has said he did not pull the trigger, but pulled back the hammer of the gun before it fired.

Last April, special prosecutors dismissed the involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin, saying the firearm might have been modified prior to the shooting and malfunctioned and that forensic analysis was warranted. But in August, prosecutors said they were considering re-filing the charges after a new analysis of the weapon was completed.

    • rottingleaf@lemmy.zip
      74·
      10 months ago

      The trio behind the monitor began repositioning the camera to remove a shadow, and Baldwin began explaining to the crew how he planned to draw the firearm.[10] He said, “So, I guess I’m gonna take this out, pull it, and go, ‘Bang!’”[12] When he removed it from the holster, the revolver discharged a single time. Baldwin denied pulling the trigger of the gun, while ABC News described a later FBI report stating that the gun could only fire if the trigger was pulled.[41][42] Halls was quoted by his attorney Lisa Torraco as saying that Baldwin did not pull the trigger, and that Baldwin’s finger was never within the trigger guard during the incident.[43] When the gun fired, the projectile traveled towards the three behind the monitor. It struck Hutchins in the chest, traveled through her body, and then hit Souza in the shoulder.[11][37][44] Script supervisor Mamie Mitchell called 9-1-1 at 1:46 p.m. PT and emergency crews appeared three minutes later.[12] Footage of the incident was not recorded.[34]

      My memory changed it a bit, but thanks for your link, as the quoted part is what I was trying to remember.

      • chaogomu@kbin.social
        3·
        10 months ago

        Did you miss the part a bit earlier where it said he was handed a gun and told it was cold?

        The fact that he was asking questions of the director about how he was going to draw and “fire” the gun is pointless, because everyone on set thought it was cold.

        According to a search warrant, the guns were briefly checked by armorer Gutierrez-Reed, before assistant director Halls took the Pietta revolver from the prop cart and handed it to Baldwin.[38][39] In a subsequent affidavit, Halls said the safety protocol regarding this firearm was such that Halls would open the loading gate of the revolver and rotate the cylinder to expose the chambers so he could inspect them himself. According to the affidavit, Halls said he did not check all cylinder chambers, but he recalled seeing three rounds in the cylinder at the time. (After the shooting, Halls said in the affidavit, Gutierrez-Reed retrieved the weapon and opened it, and Halls said that he saw four rounds which were plainly blanks, and one which could have been the remaining shell of a discharged live round.)[40] In the warrant, it is further stated that Halls announced the term “cold gun”, meaning that it was empty.[38] Halls’s lawyer, Lisa Torraco, later sought to assert that he did not take the gun off the cart and hand it to Baldwin as reported, but when pressed by a reporter to be clear, she refused to repeat that assertion.[41]

        • rottingleaf@lemmy.zip
          23·
          10 months ago

          There are a lot of statements quoted. What I quoted was what I remembered reading. Anyway, the fact of what he actually did that was criminal is not being contested by anyone here, it’s that it was criminal, as if responsibility for any action at all can be offloaded via documents signed. That’d be false.

          • chaogomu@kbin.social
            31·
            10 months ago

            Except that Baldwin really didn’t do anything criminal, despite what you say.

            There are a lot of court cases about this out of California and Georgia. Liability for the death is squarely on the armorer.

            Unfortunately, this happened in a Trump friendly state, and the prosecutor wants to make a name for themselves by sticking it to the guy who made fun of Trump.

            • rottingleaf@lemmy.zip
              22·
              10 months ago

              Saying “bang” and waving a gun is what I call “criminal stupidity”.

              and the prosecutor wants to make a name for themselves by sticking it to the guy who made fun of Trump.

              Everybody and their dog made fun of Trump.

              • chaogomu@kbin.social
                1·
                10 months ago

                Except he wasn’t just waiving the gun around.

                He’s an actor, and he was practicing the movements necessary for the scene.

                It’s called rehearsal. It’s normal.

                He said bang, because that would have been the end of the scene. Man points a gun at the camera, says his lines, and then pulls the trigger.

                You’ve seen that exact scene in dozens of films and TV shows.