UNITED STATES: According to court documents filed by the prosecution on Tuesday, actor Alec Baldwin and a firearms expert have been officially charged with involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of a cinematographer on a New Mexico film set.
The charges carry two alternative sentences: one that might result in up to 18 months of imprisonment and a $5,000 (£4,061) fine and another that could result in a five-year minimum mandatory sentence.
The Santa Fe district attorney, Mary Carmack-Altwies, initially declared that Baldwin and Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who oversaw weapons for the movie, would be charged for what the authorities have called a pattern of criminal disregard for safety on the Rust set. Nearly two weeks later, she made the official announcement.
On October 21, 2021, Halyna Hutchins was injured while participating in rehearsals at a ranch outside of Santa Fe. She passed away shortly after. Hutchins was killed, and director Joel Souza was injured when Baldwin’s revolver went off as he aimed it at Hutchins.
Insisting on their innocence, the American actor and Gutierrez-Reed have promised to fight the accusations.
In a statement of probable cause that explains the evidence against Baldwin, it is said that both as an actor and as the producer of the movie, Baldwin was careless and did a number of “extremely reckless acts” or failed to take precautions in the days and minutes before the shooting that killed someone.
The prosecution says that Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed did not check the gun before the actor used it, and he should have known not to point the gun at Hutchins and Souza while using it.
Baldwin was not responsible as the movie’s producer because she didn’t take care of several safety issues and chose Gutierrez-Reed as the lead armorer, even though he was “unqualified and inexperienced.”
Prosecutors said that the actor shouldn’t have used a real pistol in the first place because the shooting happened during a rehearsal, not an actual shoot. Instead, they said, he should have been using a fake gun.
Also Read: Alec Baldwin Accidentally Shoots Cinematographer with A Prop Gun on Movie Set
