Alec Baldwin pleads not guilty to involuntary manslaughter charge in fatal film set shooting

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Actor Alec Baldwin has pleaded not responsible to an involuntary manslaughter cost within the deadly taking pictures of a cinematographer throughout a rehearsal on a Western film set in New Mexico.

Court paperwork filed Wednesday present Baldwin entered the plea in state district courtroom in Santa Fe, waiving an arraignment that had been scheduled to happen remotely by video convention the subsequent day.

Baldwin, the lead actor and a co-producer on the Western film “Rust,” was pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins throughout a rehearsal exterior Santa Fe in October 2021 when the gun went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza.

A grand jury in Santa Fe indicted Baldwin in January after prosecutors obtained a brand new evaluation of that gun, renewing a cost that prosecutors initially filed after which dismissed in April 2023. Baldwin faces as much as 18 months in jail if convicted.

Baldwin stays free pending trial below circumstances that embrace not possessing firearms, consuming alcohol or leaving the nation. Baldwin can have restricted contact with witnesses with regards to selling “Rust,” which has not been launched for public viewing. Baldwin is prohibited from asking members of the “Rust” forged or crew to take part in a associated documentary movie.

Baldwin has mentioned he pulled again the hammer — however not the set off — and the gun fired.

“Halyna and I had something profound in common, and that is that we both assumed the gun was empty … other than those dummy rounds,” Baldwin informed George Stephanopoulos in an interview broadcast in December 2021 on ABC News.

The grand jury indictment gives particular prosecutors Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis with two different requirements for pursuing the felony cost towards Baldwin.

One could be based mostly on the negligent use of a firearm. A second different for prosecutors is to show past an affordable doubt that Baldwin precipitated the demise of Hutchins with out due warning or “circumspection,” additionally outlined as “an act committed with total disregard or indifference for the safety of others.”

An evaluation of the gun performed by Lucien and Michael Haag of Forensic Science Services in Arizona concluded that “the trigger had to be pulled or depressed sufficiently to release the fully cocked or retracted hammer of the evidence revolver.”

An earlier FBI report on the company’s evaluation of the revolver discovered that, as is frequent with firearms of that design, it may go off with out pulling the set off if power was utilized to an uncocked hammer, reminiscent of by dropping the weapon. The gun finally broke throughout testing.

Morrissey and Lewis dismissed the sooner cost after they had been knowledgeable the gun might need been modified earlier than the taking pictures and malfunctioned.

The grand jury heard from a “Rust” crew member who was a number of toes (meters) from the deadly taking pictures and one other who walked off the set earlier than the taking pictures in protest of working circumstances. Weapons forensics knowledgeable Michael Haag, a Mississippi-based film armorer and a detective with the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office additionally testified.

“Rust” weapons supervisor Hannah Gutierrez-Reed additionally has been charged with involuntary manslaughter, with a jury trial scheduled to begin Feb. 22. She has pleaded not responsible to that cost and a second cost of tampering with proof in Hutchins’ demise.

Gutierrez-Reed additionally was charged with carrying a gun right into a downtown Santa Fe bar days earlier than she was employed to work because the armorer on “Rust.” She has pleaded not responsible to that cost, too.

The deadly taking pictures of Hutchins resulted in a collection of civil lawsuits, together with wrongful demise claims filed by members of Hutchins’ household, centered on accusations that Baldwin and producers of “Rust” had been lax with security requirements. Baldwin and different defendants have disputed these allegations.

“Rust” assistant director and security coordinator David Halls pleaded no contest to unsafe dealing with of a firearm final March and obtained a suspended sentence of six months of probation. He agreed to cooperate within the investigation of the deadly taking pictures.

Morgan Lee, The Associated Press