The charges of Gun Enhancement Against Alec Baldwin and armorer Hannah Guterrez-Reed in the fatal shooting of Halyna Hutchins have been dropped. The Santa Fe Direct Attorney’s Office announced on Monday.
The charge would've sentenced Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed to up to 5 years in prison. The Direct Attorney’s Office has confirmed that the two still face the charge of involuntary manslaughter - a charge that carries up to 18 months if convicted.
During the filming of the upcoming Rust western in October 2021, Baldwin accidentally shot and killed cinematographer Harlem Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza. Baldwin initially claimed that the incident was caused by a prop gun that misfired. He further clarified this on CBS 60 Minutes and added that he did not feel any guilt or remorse after the killing of Hutchins.
Baldwin and the Rust executives sparked numerous controversies afterward: Baldwin initially refused to hand over his phone to the F.B.I. during their investigation, there were accusations of live rounds on set, poor safety measures, and protests from the crew. The script supervisor, Mamie Mitchell later said that Baldwin was never to point his gun toward Hutchins during the shooting. Mitchell later filed a suit against Baldwin.
In August 2022, the F.B.I. released a statement saying that the only way for the gun to have been fired is if Alec Baldwin pulled the trigger.
The family of Halyna Hutchins sued Alec Baldwin for wrongful death. The lawsuit was settled out of court last October.
In November, Baldwin filed a lawsuit pleading his innocence, blaming the 4 cross-defendants including script supervisor Mamie Mitchell for their negligence that led to the death of Hutchins on the set of Rust.
Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed were charged with manslaughter and firearm modification in January. Assistant director David Halls agreed to a plea deal for the charge of the negligent use of a deadly weapon which carries 6 months of probation. Halls also agreed to testify for the state.
Halyna Hutchins was born in Zhytomyrska, Ukraine on April 10, 1979. She left behind her husband Matthew Hutchins and her child. In 2019, Hutchins was awarded a Jury Prize for her work on the film Treacle by the English Riviera Film Festival. After her death, she was made a posthumous honorary member of the American Society of Cinematographers.
In October 2022 Rust announced it will resume filming. The date is currently unknown.
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