Alec Baldwin was charged with involuntary manslaughter for the fatal shooting of Halyna Hutchins on the set of his movie Rust, prosecutors announced on Thursday, January 19.
The Emmy winner, 64, and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed will both be charged with involuntary manslaughter, according to New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies. David Halls, Rust‘s first assistant director, agreed to plead guilty to negligent use of a deadly weapon.
“If any one of these three people — Alec Baldwin, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed or David Halls — had done their job, Halyna Hutchins would be alive today,” special prosecutor Andrea Reeb said in a statement. “It’s that simple. The evidence clearly shows a pattern of criminal disregard for safety on the Rust film set. In New Mexico, there is no room for film sets that don’t take our state’s commitment to gun safety and public safety seriously.”
Baldwin was holding the gun that killed Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza on October 21, 2021. The cinematographer was rushed to the hospital after the incident but was pronounced dead later that day. She was 42.
The 30 Rock alum has maintained that he was not responsible for Hutchins’ death, claiming that he did not pull the trigger before the gun discharged. “I know 1,000 percent I’m not responsible for what happened to her,” Baldwin told an investigator in a phone call after the shooting.
The Oscar nominee reiterated that sentiment in his first public interview after the incident, telling George Stephanopoulos that he “would never” pull the trigger on a gun while pointing it at someone. “I have no idea [how a bullet got in there],” Baldwin said in December 2021. “Someone put a live bullet in a gun. A bullet that wasn’t even supposed to be on the property.”
In February 2022, Hutchins’ family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Glengarry Glen Ross actor and other individuals involved in the movie’s production. Baldwin settled with the family for an undisclosed sum eight months later.
“We have reached a settlement, subject to court approval, for our wrongful death case against the producers of Rust, including Alec Baldwin and Rust Movie Productions, LLC,” the filmmaker’s widower, Matthew Hutchins, said in a statement in October 2022. “As part of that settlement, our case will be dismissed. The filming of Rust, which I will now executive produce, will resume with all the original principal players on board in January 2023. I have no interest in engaging in recriminations or attribution of blame (to the producers or Mr. Baldwin). All of us believe Halyna’s death was a terrible accident. I am grateful that the producers and the entertainment community have come together to pay tribute to Halyna’s final work.”
Baldwin marked the one-year anniversary of Halyna’s death in October 2022 with an Instagram tribute to the late cinematographer. “One year ago today,” the New York native wrote at the time alongside a photo of Halyna sitting behind a camera.
