Grand jury in New Mexico charged the actor for a shooting on Rust set that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins

Grand jury in New Mexico charged the actor for a shooting on Rust set that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins

Actor Alec Baldwin is facing a new involuntary manslaughter charge over the 2021 fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of the movie Rust.

A Santa Fe, New Mexico, grand jury indicted Baldwin on Friday, months after prosecutors had dismissed the same criminal charge against him.

During an October 2021 rehearsal on the set of Rust, a western drama, Baldwin was pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins when it went off, fatally striking her and wounding Joel Souza, the film’s director.

Baldwin, a co-producer and star of the film, has said he did not pull the trigger, but pulled back the hammer of the gun before it fired.

Last April, special prosecutors dismissed the involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin, saying the firearm might have been modified prior to the shooting and malfunctioned and that forensic analysis was warranted. But in August, prosecutors said they were considering re-filing the charges after a new analysis of the weapon was completed.

  • chaogomu@kbin.social
    1·
    10 months ago

    it’s called a camera test.

    Baldwin, the cinematographer and the director were all working through blocking (the movements needed for when the camera would be actually rolling).

    The camera was in position, and the cinematographer and director were both looking through the monitors to adjust lighting and such.

    This is all very standard stuff, and if one of the dummy rounds hadn’t actually been a reload of live ammo, it would have remained standard.

    This talks about how the live ammo made it onto the set.

    https://variety.com/2021/film/news/rust-investigators-live-rounds-alec-baldwin-1235122384/

    Baldwin could have looked at the logos on the bullets, seen the Starline Brass, and assumed that they were all dummy rounds. Only 5 of the 6 were.