Alec Baldwin Criminally Charged - How Strong Is This Case - I Discuss Behind The Scenes of This Case

This will be an interesting case to prove, but my guess is they have lots of witnesses, video, interviews, emails, policy manuals and Texts.Show more

Alec Baldwin and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed will face criminal charges for the October 2021 fatal shooting of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the film’s set, the Santa Fe District Attorney said Thursday.

Close to 16 months after Baldwin shot Hutchins and wounded the movie’s director Joel Souza with a loaded gun during rehearsal on the set of the indie Western, New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies finally unveiled her decision as to who should be charged and not charged in the tragic incident.

In charges set to be formally filed by the end of the month, Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed will each be charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter in Hutchins’ death.

Long a key figure in the events surrounding Hutchins’ death, Rust assistant director David Halls reached a plea agreement with prosecutors for the charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon, the D.A.’s office said today. The industry vet faces a suspended sentence and six months of probation.

While Baldwin has in the past vowed to fight any charges, Halls’ plea deal and the cooperation he likely provided to prosecutors could become a major factor for Baldwin going forward.

Over the months, while the Santa Fe Sheriff’s office put the final touches on its wide-ranging investigation of the late 2021 shooting at the Bonanza Creek Ranch, the D.A. has been partially planting the seeds for today’s announcement.

An August 30 letter to the New Mexico Board of Finance from Carmack-Altwies revealed the D.A’s possible intentions to prosecute as many as four individuals with criminal and homicide charges related to Rust including “one of the possible defendants” being “well known movie actor Alec Baldwin.” In her ask, Carmack-Altwies was requesting $635,000 for the matter, but was only granted $317,750 by the state.

In an ABC news interview with George Stephanopoulos in December 2021, Baldwin insisted he never actually pulled the trigger of the gun that took Hutchins’ life during a quick-draw rehearsal move in a church location on the set of Rust. Just minutes before the shots that killed Hutchins and wounded Souza, Baldwin was told by Assistant Director Dave Halls that the 1880s Colt prop weapon was a “cold gun, as many witnesses including Hall have asserted. Seemingly indifferent to his own tone, Baldwin also told the Good Morning America co-host in the now infamous sit-down, that he had been told by people who are in the know, in terms of even inside the state, that it’s highly unlikely that I would be charged with anything criminally.”

Part of the agreement entailed the DP’s husband Matthew Hutchins becoming an executive producer on the resurrected Rust movie, which was scheduled to start reshooting this month. While the production has been scouting locations in California, such as Simi Valley, Deadline heard, no official word has been given about the Western fully resuming production and where it would actually film. There is also no word if Rust has been able to get insured, a necessary requirement to make a movie

Staying in the public eye over the last year, Baldwin was set to star in the spy movie Chief of Station, shooting in Budapest, however, the actor had to vacate the role over scheduling issues back on October 31.

As civil lawsuits and that wrongful death action from Hutchins’ family hit court dockets in New Mexico and California over the last year, the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office in late 2022 finally made public the FBI assisted police report which detailed the calamities that ensued before the shooting of Hutchins on October. 21, 2021.

The raw 551-page report cast suspicion on Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, among others on what appeared to be an openly problematic set. Dolly grip Ross Addiego, for instance, claimed to police that the armorer and her crew had issues that involved “negligent discharges”. The armorer was preparing one of six guns and one of the revolvers went off toward her foot. A few minutes later at the cabin set, a discharged gun went off that wasn’t announced, which would have been assistant director Dave Halls’ responsibility to announce, per Addiego.

The report also went into detail on other instances of guns going off on Rust.

In that vein, in mid-November last year, Baldwin took on the role of plaintiff and hit Rust armorer Gutierrez Reed, first assistant director Halls, property master Sarah Zachry, and weapons and rounds supplier Seth Kenney and his company with a negligence lawsuit.

#DAFilesManslaughterCharges #AlecBaldwinArrestedAgain #goodLuckAmerica