Alec Baldwin has been indicted for the second time on involuntary manslaughter charges in the death of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
Hutchins died in October 2021 after a gun Baldwin was holding misfired during a camera-blocking rehearsal. A New Mexico grand jury indicted the star on Friday, The New York Times reported.
It came a year to the day after Baldwin was initially charged in the young mother’s tragic death. That charge was dismissed in April, after which time Kari T. Morrissey and Jason J. Lewis took over prosecution duties from the local district attorney’s office. An involuntary manslaughter charge such as this one can carry a sentence of up to 18 months in prison under New Mexico law.
“We look forward to our day in court,” Baldwin’s lawyers, Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro, said in a joint statement on Friday.
Baldwin was a producer on Rust and was starring in the throwback western as the eponymous gunslinger. Hutchins was struck by a live bullet from an old-fashioned pistol on October 21, 2021, while the crew was setting up a tight shot of Baldwin in which his character was to draw the pistol and aim it at the camera. The bullet struck Hutchins, passing through her and wounding the film’s director, Joel Souza.
The actor maintains that the gun misfired, and he never pulled the trigger. Baldwin has reported he cocked the hammer of the gun, and when it came back the gun discharged.
“Someone put a live bullet in a gun, a bullet that wasn’t even supposed to be on the property,” Baldwin said in an interview weeks after the incident. “Someone is responsible for what happened, and I can’t say who that is, but I know it’s not me.”
Investigators subsequently found five more live rounds on the set, though a theory as to how they ended up there has never been publicly released. The film’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, is also facing a charge of involuntary manslaughter, for which she will stand trial in February. Assistant director Dave Halls, who reportedly told Baldwin the gun was empty, pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge to avoid serving time.
The initial charge against Baldwin was dismissed after his lawyers argued he was erroneously charged under a law that did not exist at the time of Hutchins’ death. They’ve called the renewed charges against Baldwin “misguided.”
Baldwin has admitted to having difficulty netting acting roles since the tragedy. Except for an uncredited voiceover role in Tár, all of his post-2021 projects have been low-budget genre movies. In a sign of potential financial hardship, Baldwin slashed the price tag of his Hamptons estate by $10 million, even appearing in a video to encourage buyers to consider the property.
from Men's Journal https://ift.tt/rHh264t
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