Alec Baldwin To Be Charged With Involuntary Manslaughter In “Rust” Shooting

Alec Baldwin will be charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter more than a year after he accidentally shot and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins while filming the Western Rust.

The film’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, will also be charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter, prosecutors in Santa Fe, New Mexico, announced Thursday.

Assistant director Dave Halls, who green-lit the use of the gun as safe, has agreed to plead guilty to negligent use of a deadly weapon under the terms of a suspended sentence and six months of probation, prosecutors said. 

“After a thorough review of the evidence and the laws of the state of New Mexico, I have determined that there is sufficient evidence to file criminal charges against Alec Baldwin and other members of the ‘Rust’ film crew,” New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said in a statement.

Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed will be “charged in the alternative” with both counts of manslaughter that they each face. That means a jury will decide whether they are guilty, and under which definition of involuntary manslaughter.

Jurors will be tasked with deciding if there is underlying negligence in the first charge, and whether there was more than simple negligence involved in Hutchins’s death in the second charge.

Each involuntary manslaughter charge carries up to 18 months in jail and a $5,000 fine. The second charge includes an added five-year mandatory jail sentence because a firearm was involved.

In a statement released via his attorney, Hutchins’s husband, Matt Hutchins, thanked prosecutors and the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office.

“It is a comfort to the family that, in New Mexico, no one is above the law,” the statement read. “We support the charges, will fully cooperate with this prosecution, and fervently hope the justice system works to protect the public and hold accountable those who break the law.”