© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Alec Baldwin attends the 2022 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Ripple of Hope Award Gala in New York City, U.S., December 6, 2022. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
(Reuters) – Prosecutors have dropped the manslaughter charges against Alec Baldwin, reducing the potential prison time the Hollywood star could face for the fatal 2021 shooting on the set of the movie “Rust,” court documents showed. accusation.
New Mexico 1st Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies charged Baldwin and the film’s set gunsmith, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, with two counts of manslaughter last month in the death of cinematographer Halyna. Hutchins, and the most serious charge carries a possible prison sentence. of five years.
Carmack-Altwies filed amended charges for Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed on Friday, removing the firearm enhancement and reducing their potential prison sentence from a minimum of five years to a maximum of 18 months.
“To prevent further litigious distractions by Mr. Baldwin and his attorneys, the district attorney and special counsel removed the firearms augmentation from the manslaughter charges in the death of Halyna Hutchins on the set of ‘ Rust'”, Heather Brewer. A spokesman for the First Attorney for the Judicial District of New Mexico said in a statement.
An attorney for Baldwin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“We applaud the district attorney’s decision to dismiss the firearm enhancement and it was the correct, substantive and ethical decision,” said Jason Bowles, attorney for Gutierrez-Reed.
Lawyers for Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed had argued earlier this month that prosecutors unfairly charged their clients under a version of the firearms improvement law that had not passed until May 2022, months after the incident.
At the time the incident occurred, New Mexico law stated that the firearm enhancement must be applied when a firearm was “brandished” in the commission of a non-capital felony, meaning the suspect intended to Cause damage.
In 2022, the criteria for applying the firearms increase – with the minimum prison sentence of 5 years – were expanded to include when a weapon was simply “discharged” in the commission of a non-capital felony.
Baldwin’s case is notable because there is little to no precedent for a Hollywood actor facing criminal charges for an on-set shooting.
The “30 Rock” actor has denied responsibility for the shooting, which also injured the film’s director, Joel Souza. He has said that he cocked the revolver but never pulled the trigger and that it was the job of Gutierrez-Reed and other gun professionals to make sure it was unloaded.
Videos from inside the church before the shooting show Baldwin with his finger on the trigger, prosecutors’ special investigator Robert Shilling said in a probable cause statement.
An FBI forensic test of the revolver found that it “operated normally” and would not fire without pulling the trigger.
Gutierrez-Reed testified before the New Mexico Workplace Safety Agency (OSHA) on December 7 that the shooting could have been prevented if she had had more time to train Baldwin. She said that she had “bad form” when using the revolver.
The charging documents held Gutierrez-Reed responsible for “allowing live ammunition on set” but did not accuse her of physically introducing it into the production.
Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed are expected to make their first court appearance in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on February 24.
