Alec Baldwin’s Manslaughter Case: The Accidental 2021 ‘Rust’ Shooting That Had Shocked the World

An incident took place in Hollywood, which shook the industry down to its core, triggering waves of firearm reforms across the country.

30 Rock star Alec Baldwin accidentally shot and killed Ukrainian cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, while rehearsing scenes on the set of the New Mexico movie ‘Rust’, near Santa Fe, the state capital. The Emmy-winning actor has been facing the legal consequences of the same ever since.

The movie’s director, Joel Souza was also reportedly wounded by the same fateful bullet that had hit and killed Hayla Hutchins. According to police reports, David Halls, the assistant director who handed the gun to Baldwin, told the actor that the weapon was “cold”. This information was crucial for Alec’s indictment, as the term “cold” is used in the industry for weapons that don’t have any ammunition or even blank sounds. Baldwin himself had denied responsibility for the tragedy as live ammunition is supposed to be banned on sets.

Alec Baldwin: Indicted A Second Time

Baldwin had been previously charged with involuntary manslaughter in January, last year through a previous manslaughter charge filed by prosecutors. Those criminal charges had been dropped by April.

However, a grand jury in New Mexico has indicted the actor Alec Baldwin on involuntary manslaughter again, months after the previous charges were dropped. On January 19, 2024, reached an agreement during an evidentiary, where they were convinced to proceed to trial to obtain justice by the prosecution.

The FBI had commissioned forensic experts to reconstruct the weapon after it had been broken during testing. “Although Alec Baldwin repeatedly denies pulling the trigger, given the tests, findings and observations reported here, the trigger had to be pulled or depressed sufficiently to release the fully cocked or retracted hammer of the evidence revolver,” their report concluded.

The new evidence was brought to the grand jury of 12 beginning on Thursday, with a requirement for at least eight to agree on probable cause for new charges.

An independent forensic test was carried out under the instructions of the prosecution, a one-page indictment was filed with the First Judicial Court in Santa Fe. It charged Baldwin with involuntary manslaughter under two different legal definitions- causing death by “negligent use of a firearm” and by acting “without due caution or circumspection”. The report proved that Baldwin would have had to pull the trigger for the events to unfold as they did, thus confirming his involvement and beating his vehement denial.

His lawyers, Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro stated, “We look forward to our day in court.”

After the case goes to trial, if it ever does, the ball is completely in the court of the jury decides whether Baldwin is found guilty of either of the two aspects of the charge.

According to New Mexico laws, involuntary manslaughter is considered to be a fourth-degree felony. If at all, Baldwin ends up getting convicted for this crime, he could face up to 18 months in prison. This comes with an additional charge of $5000.

Other People Charged

The movie’s chief armourer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who had handled the gun before Halls, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter, which she has pleaded not guilty to. She will face a trial in February 2024. She had to sign a plea agreement for the charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon. She received flack for her on-set irresponsibility, for neglecting loaded ammunition, and for not making sure that the guns being used weren’t loaded so that there were no live rounds onto the movie set.

Furthermore, David Halls (63), the assistant director of the movie has been sentenced to six months unsupervised probation. This had all been revealed to be a portion of his plea deal with the court.

Events Leading to the Fateful Shooting

Baldwin, the 65-year-old actor had been rehearsing a scene that involved firing a revolver on a creek ranch on October 21. While practising firing a Colt .45, when he discharged the gun, a bullet struck Ms Hutchins right in the chest. The accidental shot proved to be fatal later on.

Joel Souza, the film’s director, was also wounded after being struck in the shoulder by the very same bullet which ricocheted off of Hutchins.

The Ukrainian filmmaker Hutchins, then 42, was immediately airlifted post-accident to the nearest hospital, which had been in Albuquerque. In a short amount of time, she was announced dead at the hospital. Her husband refused to comment on the situation.

Mr. Souza, 48, was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Santa Fe and was released the next day.

On-set information from witnesses reveals that prior to this shocking incident, There were at least two accidental gun discharges on the set days. Such a statement from former crew members speaks volumes about the irresponsible nature of film set laws and regulations.

Hutchin’s Legal Team

Attorney Gloria Allred, representing Hutchins’ parents, Olga Solovey and Anatolii Androsovych, emphasized their pursuit of truth in both civil and criminal cases.

“Our clients have always sought the truth about what happened on the day that Halyna Hutchins was tragically shot and killed,” she stated. “They continue to seek the truth in our civil lawsuit for them, and they also would like there to be accountability in the criminal justice system,” she said.

Matthew Hutchins, Halyna’s widower went on to become an executive producer on rust, and obtained the rights to the film. Since then, he settled a wrongful death suit in June. He views his wife’s death as a terrible accident, expressing no interest in attributing blame.

Who was Halyna Hutchins?

Halyna was a Ukrainian cinematographer. She worked on more than 30 feature-length films, short films, and TV miniseries, including the films Archenemy, Darlin’, and Blindfire.

She grew up on a Soviet military base in the Arctic. She attended National Agricultural University and then Kyiv National University, first studying economics before changing her major to journalism. The aspiring filmmaker went on to become a student at the American Film Institute Conservatory in Los Angeles.

Her family filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against crew members and producers, including Mr. Baldwin, accusing them of reckless conduct and cost-cutting measures that endangered the crew. As part of this settlement, Ms Hutchins’s husband was made an executive producer of the film.

Halyna’s Legacy

Hutchin’s death led to intensive gun reforms on movie sets all across U.S.A. Filmmaker Bandar Albuliwi proposed a ban on real guns on film and television sets. He created a petition for “Halyna’s Law” on Change.org, which was signed by actors Olivia Wilde and Dwayne Johnson.

In October 2021, following Hutchins’ death, teachers and friends of hers at the American Film Institute established the Halyna Hutchins Memorial Scholarship Fund dedicated to supporting the education of female cinematographers. Hutchins’s widower Matt Hutchins endorsed the project and asked for anyone wishing to honor her memory to donate to the fund.