Credits: Bryan Berlin / Wikimedia Commons — CC BY-SA 4.0.
Alec Baldwin, the famous 65-year-old Hollywood actor, is currently at the center of a legal case following the tragic Shooting Accident in Santa Fe that occurred during the filming of the movie Rust. Charged with involuntary manslaughter, Baldwin chose to plead not guilty, waiving his right to appear at the preliminary hearing scheduled for Thursday, February 1.
The incident dates back to October 2021, on the set of the western Rust at a ranch in New Mexico. Baldwin, armed with a revolver supposedly loaded with blanks, had accidentally fired, causing the death of the cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, and injuring the director, Joel Souza. Faced with serious charges, the actor has always denied pulling the trigger, saying he had been assured the gun was safe.
This case sent shockwaves through Hollywood, and there have been many twists and turns since the accident. In April 2023, the charges against Baldwin had been dropped. However, prosecutors reopened the case in mid-January 2024 after a new expert review concluded that the gun could not fire without pressure on the trigger.
The film’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, is also accused of involuntary manslaughter for placing the ammunition in the gun, when a dummy round should have been used. Her trial will begin on February 21.
As for filming on Rust, it resumed and was completed in Montana, with Matthew Hutchins, Halyna’s widower, as executive producer. At the end of 2022, he had dropped the civil claims against Baldwin, calling his wife’s death a "terrible accident".