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Actor Alec Baldwin has pleaded not guilty to a charge of involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of a cinematographer during a rehearsal on a film set in New Mexico.
Seth Wenig/AP
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Seth Wenig/AP
Actor Alec Baldwin has pleaded not guilty to a charge of involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of a cinematographer during a rehearsal on a film set in New Mexico.
Seth Wenig/AP
SANTA FE, NM – Actor Alec Baldwin has pleaded not guilty to a charge of involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of a cinematographer during a rehearsal for a Western film set in New Mexico.
Court documents filed Wednesday show Baldwin pleaded guilty in state District Court in Santa Fe, waiving an arraignment that had been scheduled to take place remotely via video conference the next day.
Baldwin, lead actor and co-producer of the western film. Oxidewas pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal outside Santa Fe in October 2021 when the gun went off, killing her and injuring director Joel Souza.
A grand jury in Santa Fe indicted Baldwin in January after prosecutors received a new analysis of that weapon, renewing a charge that prosecutors originally filed and then dismissed in April 2023. Baldwin faces up to 18 months in prison if convicted. guilty.
Baldwin remains free pending trial under conditions that include not possessing firearms, consuming alcohol or leaving the country. Baldwin may have limited contact with witnesses when it comes to promoting Oxide, which has not been released to the public. Baldwin is prohibited from asking members of the “Rust” cast or crew to participate in a related documentary film.
Baldwin has said he pulled the hammer, but not the trigger, and the gun fired.
“Halyna and I had something profound in common, which is that we both assumed the gun was empty… other than those fake bullets,” Baldwin told George Stephanopoulos in an interview broadcast in December 2021 on ABC News.
The grand jury indictment provides special prosecutors Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis with two alternative standards for bringing the felony charge against Baldwin.
One would be based on negligent use of a firearm. A second alternative for prosecutors is to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Baldwin caused Hutchins’ death without due caution or “circumspection,” also defined as “an act committed with complete disregard or indifference to the safety of others.”
An analysis of the gun by Lucien and Michael Haag of Forensic Science Services in Arizona concluded that “the trigger had to be squeezed or depressed enough to release the fully cocked or retracted hammer from the evidence revolver.”
An earlier FBI report on the agency’s analysis of the revolver found that, as is common with firearms of that design, it could be fired without pulling the trigger if force was applied to an uncocked hammer, such as by dropping the weapon. The weapon eventually broke during testing.
Morrissey and Lewis dismissed the earlier charge after they were informed that the gun may have been modified before the shooting and malfunctioned.
The grand jury heard from a Oxide one crew member who was just feet away from the fatal shooting and another who left the set before the shooting in protest of working conditions. Also testifying was forensic weapons expert Michael Haag, a Mississippi-based movie gunsmith and a detective with the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office.
Oxide Weapons Supervisor Hannah Gutierrez-Reed has also been charged with involuntary manslaughter, and a jury trial is scheduled to begin on February 22. She has pleaded not guilty to that charge and a second count of tampering with evidence in Hutchins’ death.
Gutiérrez-Reed was also accused of bringing a gun to a bar in downtown Santa Fe days before she was hired to work as a gunsmith at Oxide. She also pleaded not guilty to that charge.
Hutchins’ shooting death led to a series of civil lawsuits, including wrongful death lawsuits filed by members of Hutchins’ family, centered on allegations that Baldwin and the producers of Oxide They were lax with safety regulations. Baldwin and other defendants have disputed those allegations.
Oxide Deputy Chief and Safety Coordinator David Halls pleaded no contest to unsafe handling of a firearm last March and received a suspended six-month probation sentence. He agreed to cooperate in the investigation of the fatal shooting.