The US Attorney General announced Thursday that he will be charged with manslaughter Actor Alec Baldwin In the case of the murder of an official in the movie “Rust” in 2021, with an accidental shot from a gun that Baldwin used during filming, while his defense attorney described bringing this charge against him as a “terrible judicial error.”
Santa Fe County Prosecutor Mary Carmack-Altois said the same charge would also be brought against Hana Gutierrez Reed, who is responsible for the weapons in the film and for the gun Baldwin used during the shoot.
sufficient evidence
“After a careful review of the evidence and the laws of New Mexico, I have found that there is sufficient evidence to bring criminal charges against Alec Baldwin and the other members of the Rust photography team,” said Mary Carmack-Altoys.
She also added, “Under my mandate, no one is above the law, and everyone deserves justice.”
The public prosecutor said the charges would be formally filed “by the end of the month”. If convicted, both Baldwin and Reed could face up to 18 months in prison.
However, Baldwin’s attorney, Luke Nicas, said, “This decision distorts the tragic death of Helena Hutchins and represents a terrible miscarriage of justice.”
The lawyer stressed that “Baldwin had no reason to believe that live ammunition could have been found in the weapon, or anywhere else on the set.”
real ammunition
The 64-year-old actor has always maintained that he did not know the gun was loaded with real ammunition, as he had been told it was safe.
Baldwin has consistently maintained that he did not pull the trigger, which experts question.
Police investigations focused on determining the reason for the presence of live ammunition at the filming location, as this is strictly prohibited in principle out of a specific concern to avoid any such incidents.
Live bullets
Police investigations determined that the film’s weapons handler, Hana Gutierrez Reed, put live bullets into Baldwin’s handgun instead of a mutilated bullet.
Last August, the star expected that no one would be charged, indicating in an interview with CNN that he had hired a private investigator to determine responsibilities in this case.
The case resulted in a group of civil lawsuits filed by a number of the film’s team members.
The scene of the accident, right, and actor Alec Baldwin, left, following the shooting
vague agreement
And Baldwin announced in October 2022 that he had reached an agreement with the family of Helena Hutchins, according to which the civil lawsuit she filed against the star would be dropped.
The value of the agreement reached by the two parties was not disclosed.
A statement on the day indicated that production of the film will resume in January 2023.
The incident occurred on October 21, 2021, on the set of “Rust” on a farm in Santa Fe, New Mexico, when Baldwin pulled the trigger of a weapon that was supposed to contain claw bullets, but a live projectile hit the 42-year-old director of photography, Helena Hutchins. And it led to her death, while the director, Joel Souza, was injured.
This incident caused a great shock in Hollywood, and had a very strong impact inside and outside the United States, and led to an escalation of demands to prevent the presence of any firearms on filming sites.
