Alec Baldwin has been indicted on involuntary manslaughter after the death of a producer on the set of Rust.
The Grand Jury indictment was filed in Santa Fe, New Mexico, today over the death of Halyna Hutchins, who died after a prop gun, held by Baldwin, went off on set in October 2021.
Responding to the indictment, the actor’s lawyers said “we look forward to our day in court”.
All charges were dropped in April last year, with special prosecutors saying they were informed the gun might have been modified before the shooting and malfunctioned.
They later began considering whether to refile a charge against Baldwin after new analysis of the gun.
The analysis relied on replacement parts to reassemble the gun, after parts of the pistol were broken during testing by the FBI.
Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer, but not the trigger, and the gun fired.
But after examining the gun and markings it left on a spent cartridge, the new report concluded the trigger had to have been pulled or depressed.
Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins
It stated: “Given the tests, findings and observations reported here, the trigger had to be pulled or depressed sufficiently to release the fully cocked or retracted hammer of the evidence revolver.”
An earlier FBI analysis of the gun found that – as is common with this type of firearm – it could go off without pulling the trigger if force were applied to an uncocked hammer.
This could be done by dropping the weapon, for example.
The only way analysts could get it to fire was by striking the gun with a mallet while the hammer was down and resting on the cartridge, or by pulling the trigger while it was fully cocked.
The gun eventually broke during testing.
Read more:
First images of Alec Baldwin on set of Rust after filming resumes
The movie set’s weapons supervisor, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter and evidence tampering in the case, with her trial scheduled to begin in February.
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