New legal twist for Alec Baldwin. After charges against him for fatal shooting on set of film were initially dropped Rust in 2021, the American actor was again charged with manslaughter on Friday January 19.
October 21, 2021, the filming of the western Rust in New Mexico (southwest of the United States) turned into drama when Alec Baldwin pointed a weapon supposed to contain only blank bullets, but a very real projectile had killed the director of photography Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza.
This rare news item shocked Hollywood and provoked calls to ban firearms on sets. The 65-year-old actor, who risks eighteen months in prison if convicted, has maintained his innocence from the start. He has always maintained that he was assured that his weapon was harmless and also denies pulling the trigger.
New Weapon Expertise
The investigation, marked by multiple weaknesses on the side of the prosecution and which saw several prosecutors succeed one another, has still not succeeded in determining with certainty what really happened: the whole question is to know if the colt held by Alec Baldwin could have been triggered alone. “We look forward to our court appearance”reacted his lawyers, Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro, in a press release.
In her press release announcing the new indictment, the prosecutor in charge of the case did not explain her decision. According to the magazine Variety, a new assessment of the weapon in question, carried out this summer, concluded that it could only have been triggered by pressing the trigger. Broken during tests carried out by the FBI during the initial investigation, this pistol had to be rebuilt and was the subject of contradictory expertise.
A first indictment for manslaughter against Alec Baldwin led to the charges being dropped in April. At the time, new investigative evidence indicated that the gun may have been modified before its delivery to the film crew, thus increasing the chances of an accidental shooting occurring, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The film’s gunsmith accused of manslaughter
However, prosecutors warned that the investigation was continuing and that the actor was not, however, exonerated. New prosecutions remained possible, and finally took place on Friday. The film’s gunsmith, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, is also charged with manslaughter in the case and her trial is scheduled to begin February 21.
During the initial investigation, the police concluded that it was she who had put the ammunition in the weapon used by Alec Baldwin, instead of a dummy bullet. The investigation never determined how live ammunition could have ended up on set, where only blank bullets are allowed.
The filming of Rust officially resumed in March in Montana, with Halyna Hutchins’ widower Matthew serving as executive producer. At the end of 2022, he dropped the civil charges he had filed against Alec Baldwin under an agreement the amount of which was not disclosed. At the time, he felt that his wife’s death was “a terrible accident”according to a press release.