Alec Baldwin, barring a last-minute miracle, will have to play the most complicated role of his long film and television career. This time it will be a performance in a non-fiction affair, with a script where the ending is not yet written.
In a radical change from the Prosecutor’s Office, the actor will finally have to go to trial, accused of involuntary manslaughter, for the death of cameraman Halyna Hutchins. He died on a New Mexico set on October 21, 2021, while filming Rust, a western, when Baldwin was rehearsing a scene and fired a vintage gun (he says it went off by itself) to prove the. Turns out he was carrying real bullets instead of fake ones.
The decision to indict him was announced on Friday after a grand jury in Santa Fe (New Mexico), composed of 12 people, heard the evidence presented by the special prosecutors of the case, Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis. The two public prosecutors were appointed after the original case was dismissed in April due to a mistrial.
“We look forward to our day in court,” defense attorneys Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro responded defiantly in a statement. If found guilty, the actor can be sentenced to 18 months in prison. A trial date has not yet been set.
Actor and producer of Rust, Baldwin, 65, has always maintained that he is not responsible for the death of Halyna Hutchins.
He first argued that he was assured that the gun did not contain live bullets and that there was not even live ammunition on the premises.
He also insisted he did not pull the trigger when the gun went off. But a forensic report, endorsed by the FBI, determined that he had to pull the trigger for the projectile to go off, a conclusion that is the basis for the summary being unearthed. The actor, who claims to have lost his job because of this case, negotiated an out-of-court settlement with the Prosecutor’s Office. But it didn’t work.
