The embattled western film Rust will continue production with Alec Baldwin as the lead star as he faces involuntary manslaughter charges over the on-set fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
Rust production’s attorney Melina Spadone told CNN on Friday that “on-set safety supervisors and union crew members ... will bar any use of working weapons or any ammunition,” just a day after New Mexico prosecutors announced charges against three of the movie’s original crew.
The attorney also confirmed that Mr Baldwin, who faces up to 18 months in jail if convicted of involuntary manslaughter charges, will remain as the film’s lead.
The western’s former armourer Hannah Gutierrez Reed was also charged with involuntary manslaughter, while first assistant director David Halls already agreed to plead guilty to negligent use of a deadly weapon. Mr Halls will receive a suspended sentence and probation.
In a statement to The Independent, Mr Baldwin’s attorney Luke Nikas decried the charges and called the prosecution’s case “a terrible miscarriage of justice.”
“This decision distorts Halyna Hutchins’ tragic death and represents a terrible miscarriage of justice,” he said.
“Mr Baldwin had no reason to believe there was a live bullet in the gun – or anywhere on the movie set. He relied on the professionals with whom he worked, who assured him the gun did not have live rounds. We will fight these charges, and we will win.”
New Mexico’s first judicial district attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies announced the charges on Thursday, less than three months after the District Attorney’s office received the final report from the police into the October 2021 incident which led to the death of Ms Hutchins after a prop gun held by Baldwin was discharged.
“On my watch, no one is above the law, and everyone deserves justice,” Ms Carmack-Altwies said in a statement.
Andrea Reeb, a special prosecutor appointed by the DA to the case, said that the evidence showed a “pattern of criminal disregard for safety on the set of Rust film set”.
“If any one of these three people – Alec Baldwin, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed or David Halls – had done their job, Halyna Hutchins would be alive today. It’s that simple,” she said. “In New Mexico, there is no room for film sets that don’t take our state’s commitment to gun safety and public safety seriously.”
A legal expert told The Independent the district attorney’s decision to proceed with two charges of involuntary manslaughter was a “bold statement”.
“He has some built-in defences with the fact that he wasn’t the person responsible for making sure the gun was cleared and that there were multiple people on set whose job was to ensure everything was safe,” the former Los Angeles County prosecutor Joshua Ritter said.
“But at the end of the day, the gun was in his hands.”
Los Angeles-based attorney Miguel Custodio said in a statement: “Baldwin pulled the trigger, he has to be accountable, plain and simple. There is clearly no one else who pulled the trigger. And you have to charge the person who pulled the trigger.”
