CNN
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The Santa Fe County District Attorney’s office said Tuesday that actor and producer Alec Baldwin is criminally charged in connection with the fatal shooting in 2021 on the set of the movie “Rust.”
The DA’s office said the charges against Baldwin and gun maker Hannah Gueterez Reid include two counts of manslaughter. Lawyers for both defendants have previously maintained that their clients are innocent.
According to a media release from the DA’s office, charges of negligence with a deadly weapon were also filed against “Rust” assistant manager David Holz, who pleaded no contest and entered into a plea agreement pending approval.
“Today we have taken another important step in securing justice for Halina Hutchins,” Attorney General Mary Carmack Altoys He said in a statement to CNN on Tuesday. “In New Mexico, no one is above the law and justice will be done.”
Carmack Altwes told CNN earlier this month She was charging Baldwin and the film-maker with involuntary manslaughter, accusing them of failing to implement safety measures that could have prevented the accident that led to the death of cinematographer Helena Hutchins.
Hutchins He is hit and killed by a live bullet fired from a prop gun held by Baldwin, who maintains that he did not pull the gun’s trigger.
Director Joel Sousa was also shot.
In probable cause documents outlining the evidence in the case, prosecutors said Baldwin did not take the firearms training in “Rust” seriously.
“A training session was scheduled for at least an hour or more, but the actual training was only about 30 minutes long. According to (gunsmith Hannah Gutierrez) Reid, Baldwin was distracted and talking on his cell phone with his family during training,” the document states.
Gutierrez-Reid was also charged with involuntary manslaughter, with prosecutors stating that she did not insist on Baldwin’s safety training, did not check every round loaded into the firearm, and did not follow proper safety protocols in storing the ammunition.
“Gutierrez Reed was reckless in its responsibility to ensure safety with the firearm. According to the probable cause statement against Gutierrez Reed, it failed to rectify Baldwin of serious and reckless safety violations by pointing the weapon at/towards people and with his finger on the trigger.
The photos and videos clearly show Baldwin, several times, fingering the inside
from the trigger guard and on the trigger, while manipulating the hammer and while drawing, aiming and cocking the gun.”
Repeated FBI testing on the weapon determined that it could not be fired without the trigger being depressed. In interviews with CNN and ABC, Baldwin has claimed he never pulled the trigger.
CNN has reached out to representatives for both Baldwin and Gutierrez Reid.
Baldwin maintained that he was unaware that the gun he fired during a rehearsal contained live ammunition. In a statement to CNN on January 19, his attorney called the plaintiffs’ decision a “terrible miscarriage of justice.”
“This decision mars the tragic death of Helena Hutchins and represents a terrible miscarriage of justice. Baldwin had no reason to believe there was a live bullet in the gun — or anywhere on set,” Baldwin’s attorney, Luke Nicas, said in the statement.
“He relied on the professionals he was working with, who assured him that the gun had no live ammunition. We will fight these charges, and we will prevail.”
Gutierrez Reid’s attorney said he believes the jury will find his client not guilty.
“We were expecting the charges but they are completely wrong about Hannah – we expect a jury to find her not guilty and not committing manslaughter,” attorney Jason Bowles said in a statement to CNN earlier this month. The indictment was issued for the first time.
“She was emotional about the tragedy but did not commit any crime.”
Baldwin and Gutierrez Reid each face two counts of manslaughter until the jury can decide what specific number might be more appropriate, Carmack-Altoys previously told CNN.
If convicted, the public prosecutor said, “they will only be sentenced on one charge.”
In either case, prosecutors carry a penalty of up to 18 months in prison and a fine of up to $5,000.
But one operation may involve an enhancement of a firearm, or an additional penalty, because the firearm was involved. Prosecutors said in this case that the crime could carry a prison sentence of up to five years.