‘Rust’ Charges: Prosecutors Say Alec Baldwin Shouldn’t Have Pointed Gun

Alec Baldwin has officially been charged with involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

Charges were formally filed against Baldwin and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who both face two counts of involuntary manslaughter, on Tuesday after Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies announced criminal charges against both on Jan. 19.

Notably, prosecutors charged Baldwin as both an actor and producer for Rust.

As an actor, Baldwin should’ve assumed the gun he was handling was loaded with live rounds and known that “the first rule of gun safety is never to point a gun at someone you don’t intend on shooting,” reads a statement of probable cause. He also neglected to undergo “required firearms training prior to the commencement of filming,” even “after [Gutierrez-Reed] requested more training.”

“This reckless deviation from known standards and practice and protocol directly caused the fatal shooting,” the statement says. “Baldwin acted with willful disregard of the safety of others and in a manner which endangered other people.”

Prosecutors also claim Baldwin “contributed to or failed to mitigate or address multiple significant safety violations,” including prior misfires, and fostered an unsafe set by hiring Gutierrez-Reed as the lead armorer.

“As the producer of a firearm intense film, evidence shows that Baldwin allowed, through acts or omissions, the hiring of inexperienced and unqualified [Gutierrez-Reed] for this production, failed to mitigate or establish more precautions to protect against [Gutierrez-Reed’s] inexperience, or failed to demand the minimum safety standards, protocols, and requirements on set,” writes Robert Shilling, a special investigator for the district attorney’s office.

Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed won’t be arrested, the district attorney’s office said on Jan. 19.

Luke Nikas, Baldwin’s lawyer, declined to comment.

The charges come more than a year after Hutchins’ death. She was shot on the set of the film on Oct. 21, 2021, when an old-fashioned revolver being handled by Baldwin went off. Halls handed Baldwin the gun and said that it did not contain live ammunition, but it discharged in the direction of Hutchins and director Joel Souza, who was injured. (No charges are being filed in connection with Souza’s injury.) Five live rounds mixed in with dummy rounds were found on set following the shooting. It remains unknown how the live rounds ended up on the set.

Assistant director David Halls also signed a plea agreement to settle the charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon, the district attorney’s office said when it announced that charges would be filed against Baldwin. The terms include a suspended sentence and six months of probation. The agreement is pending approval. He will testify against Gutierrez-Reed and Baldwin in their trials, Carmack-Altwies said in an interview with Fox News on Jan. 19.

Prosecutors accuse Gutierrez-Reed of failing to ensure safety protocols regarding the use of firearms were being followed, neglecting to check the rounds she loaded into guns and allowing live ammunition onto the set. They also claim that she broke proper custody of the gun by giving it to Halls instead of directly handing it to Baldwin herself after checking the rounds in front of him.

“As armorer, Guiterrez-Reed was ultimately responsible for correcting or mitigating these and any safety violations from cast/crew,” the statement reads.

Jason Bowles, a lawyer for Gutierrez-Reed, didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

No production companies attached to the movie, including Rust Movie Productions, were charged. The companies contracted with Rust Movie Productions, a special purpose entity created solely to shoot the movie, include Thomasville Pictures, Short Porch Pictures, Brittany House Pictures, Calvary Media and 3rd Shift Media.

In an interview with CNN’s Josh Campbell on Jan. 19, Carmack-Altwies said Baldwin “had a duty to make sure that the set was safe” because “he should have been aware that safety was an issue.”

The charges were filed in New Mexico’s First Judicial District Court. Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed will be arraigned within 30 days. After, a judge will take on the role of a grand jury, hear the DA and special prosecutor present their case and decide whether the case should proceed to trial.

Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed were “charged in the alternative” with the two counts of manslaughter. That means if a jury finds either of them guilty, it will also determine under which definition of involuntary manslaughter they are guilty, Carmack-Altwies has said.

For involuntary manslaughter to be proved, there must be negligence. Under New Mexico law, involuntary manslaughter is a fourth-degree felony and is punishable by up to 18 months in jail and a $5,000 fine. It includes a misdemeanor charge of negligent use of a firearm.

The jury could alternatively make a finding of involuntary manslaughter in the commission of a lawful act, which requires proof that there was more than simple negligence involved in Hutchins’ death. This charge includes a firearm enhancement, according to the DA, which carries an added penalty and makes the crime punishable by a mandatory five years in jail. Baldwin could face up to six-and-a-half years in prison if it’s found that he acted in reckless disregard of safety in the use of a deadly weapon.

Criminal defense attorney Richard Kaplan was skeptical that prosecutors could convince a jury that Baldwin’s liability should rise to the level of involuntary manslaughter. He stressed that there were “reasonable expectations” for a live round not to be on set.

“That’s where criminal negligence will fall apart,” he said. “It’s about what he knew. Was [what he did] a willful disregard for human life?”

After Carmack-Altwies said she would be charging Baldwin earlier this month, actor’s union SAG-AFTRA disputed her contention that the actor had a responsibility to make sure the gun was safe to handle. She called the argument “wrong and uninformed.”

“The death of Halyna Hutchins is a tragedy, and all the more so because of its preventable nature It is not a failure of duty or a criminal act on the part of any performer,” the union said in a statement. “An actor’s job is not to be a firearms or weapons expert. Firearms are provided for their use under the guidance of multiple expert professionals directly responsible for the safe and accurate operation of that firearm.”

SAG-AFTRA stressed that the Industry Wide Labor-Management Safety Committee Safety Bulletins that currently govern the use of firearms on set “do not make it the performer’s responsibility to check any firearm. Performers train to perform, and they are not required or expected to be experts on guns or experienced in their use.” Rather, the union said that “all activity with firearms on a set must be under the careful supervision and control of the professional armorer and the employer.”

Michael Shannon noted in an interview with The Chicago Tribune on Jan. 24 that “if it were up to the actor to determine whether a firearm is safe or not, you wouldn’t need an armorer in the first place.”

“This is what happens when you lowball and cut corners and hire people that may not be qualified, and pay them next to nothing, and make the movie on the cheap,” he said.

Heather Pearson, general counsel for the international cinematographers guild, agreed that the production is responsible for safety oversight.

“The production has the responsibility to say ‘this is what we’re going to do’ and have an armorer that follows protocols,” she said.

Gutierrez-Reed, daughter of longtime Hollywood armorer Thell Reed, handled the gun prior to the shooting and was responsible for overseeing all weapons in addition to serving as props assistant in a dual role. She was hired on the production in only her second job as head armorer and was paid $7,500 for both jobs, according to a court filing in her lawsuit against ammunitions supplier Seth Kenney.

When asked during a CNN interview on Jan. 19 whether Baldwin had a duty as an actor to ensure the safety of the gun he was handling, Carmack-Altwies said, “Every person that handles a gun has a duty to make sure that, if they are going to handle that gun, point it at someone and pull the trigger, that it is not going to fire a projectile and kill someone.”

The prosecutor added, “We have talked to many actors, A-list and otherwise, that have said that they always check their guns or they have someone check it in front of them. So an actor doesn’t get a free pass just because they’re an actor.”

Bryan Carpenter, an armorer who advised the Santa Fe district attorney’s office, similarly noted that actors typically double and triple check the guns they handle for loaded ammunition. He said it’s “common practice on a movie set.”