Last Updated on 04/23/2023 by てんしょく飯
Good news for actor Alec Baldwin, who was charged in the fatal shooting of a gun on a shooting location. Prosecutors in New Mexico have changed their tune and decided to drop the charges against him.
Baldwin’s lawyers, Luke Nicas and Alex Spiro, said: ‘We are pleased that the charges against Alec Baldwin will be dropped.
We hope that the facts and circumstances of this tragic accident will be properly investigated”. Like Baldwin, weapons officer Hannah Guterres-Reed, who was suspected of manslaughter, remains unchanged and remains charged.
The incident occurred on 21 October 2021 on the set of the low-budget indie film Rust. After a lunch break, lead actor and producer Baldwin was discussing with director Joel Souza and cinematographer Halina Hutchins how he should bring out his gun and hold it up in the next shot. At one moment, however, a prop gun that Baldwin was carrying accidentally fires. The gun contains live ammunition, which should not have been at the shooting site, and Hutchins is killed. Souza, whose shoulder was hit by a live bullet that came through Hutchins’ body, was also injured.
Guterres-Reed, who took care of the weapons in the film, was in her 20s and had only one film experience prior to this. It was assistant director Dave Halls who failed in his duty to check the gun she had prepared and handed it to Baldwin, declaring it safe and saying ‘it’s a cold gun’. Halls accepted a plea deal and was only given six months’ probation as a result. However, Baldwin, an actor who believed Halls, albeit also a producer, when he took it, saying he was fine, was charged with up to five years in prison, as was Guterres-Reed, the man most responsible. Baldwin, who has maintained since the incident that he is innocent and that he did not pull the trigger on the gun, was reportedly greatly upset when confronted with the possibility of being sent to prison.
Baldwin’s lawyer pointed out that the prosecution was wrong.
However, Baldwin’s lawyers tried their best. And each time they pointed out their mistakes, the credibility of the New Mexico prosecution was shaken and its position weakened.
First, it was an all too elementary error by the prosecution to give Baldwin and Guterres-Reed the maximum five-year charge. This was based on a new state law that makes charges more serious if a weapon is involved, but this law was not yet in force when this incident occurred. After receiving such a complaint from Baldwin’s lawyers, this part of the law was dropped, resulting in Baldwin and Guterres-Reed being imprisoned for a maximum of 18 months.
Next, Baldwin’s lawyers pointed out that it was illegal for state legislator Andrea Reeve to serve as special prosecutor in the case. This is because one person would be dealing with both the legislative and judicial branches of government. Reeve is a Republican legislator, so there is a slight whiff of politics here. Baldwin, a Democrat supporter who appeared as former President Trump on the comedy programme ‘Saturday Night Live’ and made fun of him as much as he liked, is disliked by Republican supporters. The New York Times reported that Reeve sent District Attorney General Mary Carmack-Ortweez: ‘One of these days, I’d like to get out there and help you. It might even add to my campaign [laughs]”, an email obtained and exposed. After this, Reeve stepped down as special prosecutor in the case. Carmack-Ortweez subsequently also dropped the case.
Furthermore, new information has recently emerged about the prop gun used by Baldwin. Before it was delivered to the scene of Rust, the gun had been fitted with a new trigger, which could have been fired by mistake. Until now, prosecutors have claimed that the FBI checked the gun and found nothing wrong with it, but if this is the case, it makes Baldwin’s argument that he did not pull the trigger more convincing.
In addition to these series of blunders in recent months, there is also the simple question of why this investigation took nearly 18 months in the first place. As well as why live ammunition, which was not supposed to be at the scene, was mixed in, and what eventually happened to the story that someone was practising shooting at the scene, which was heard at the beginning of the incident? The prosecution may have had a firm grip on those things and intended to bring them out in court, but the mystery remains in many ways.
The film resumed shooting. Hutchins’ husband became an executive producer.
However, Baldwin now has a big weight off his shoulders for now. Filming on Rust, which had been suspended since the incident, has coincidentally just resumed this week. The location has moved from New Mexico to Montana, with Hutchins’ husband Matthew Hutchins joining as executive producer. Souza said he is returning to direct the film to honour Hutchins’ legacy.
However, Baldwin and the production team still face multiple civil lawsuits. It will be some time before all of these are settled. What will the situation really be like when the film is completed and finally released?
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