DA: Baldwin, armorer to face involuntary manslaughter charge in 'Rust' shooting death

Jan. 19—District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies listed a succession of failures that led to the tragic death of promising cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, a 42-year-old wife and mother of a young son, in October 2021.

David Halls, an assistant director for the western film Rust, and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed failed to check the ammunition in a prop revolver before handing it to Hollywood actor and producer Alec Baldwin; Baldwin failed to check it before firing the weapon in Hutchins' direction.

"Halyna Hutchins died as a result of the recklessness of these three people," Carmack-Altwies said in an interview Thursday, not long after announcing she plans to charge Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed with involuntary manslaughter.

"You should never point a gun at a person and pull the trigger unless you mean to shoot them," the district attorney said.

Halls already has agreed to plead guilty to a charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon and signed an agreement that includes "a suspended sentence and six months of probation," Carmack-Altwies' office said in a statement Thursday morning announcing the long-awaited results of an investigation into the fatal shooting on a film set at the Bonanza Creek Ranch south of Santa Fe.

Court records said Halls had called out "Cold gun!" before handing the revolver to Baldwin to indicate it contained no live ammunition.

Carmack-Altwies said in an interview Thursday her office's plea agreement requires Halls to "testify truthfully in the state's cases against Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed."

Baldwin and Gutierrez will each be charged under two different sections of the state's manslaughter statute, the statement said, one that requires jurors to find "underlying negligence" and one that requires them to find "more than simple negligence."

Both versions of the charge carry penalties of 18 months of incarceration, but the more serious of the two would allow for the sentence to be enhanced by a mandatory five years because the incident involved a firearm.

Jurors might also be offered an option of finding Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed guilty of the lesser charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon, Carmack-Altwies said, meaning they face a range of less than six months in jail to more than five years in prison if they are convicted.

Hutchins, considered a rising star in the film industry, and director Joel Souza were shot in the early afternoon of Oct. 21, 2021, during a rehearsal in a church building at the movie ranch. Hutchins was struck in the chest, and Souza was hit in the shoulder.

No charges will be filed in connection with Souza's injury, the District Attorney's Office said.

Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza declined to comment Thursday on the charges that resulted from more than a year of work by his investigators to gather evidence in the complex case. The investigation centered in part on how live bullets appeared on the film set and why one was placed in Baldwin's gun.

Carmack-Altwies said in the interview Thursday, "There were six total live rounds on that set, and nobody had caught them."

By many accounts, the shooting was the result of live ammunition being mistakenly mixed with dummy rounds on a set some had described as chaotic — fraught with conflict, sloppiness and a disregard for firearm safety.

Mendoza noted in April he had found disorganization, "complacency and a degree of neglect" on the set.

The state Occupational Health and Safety Bureau in April handed the company behind the Rust production a citation and maximum fine of $136,793 after it found "plain indifference to employee safety" on the film set and a "failure to follow firearm safety procedures."

Baldwin has said he didn't pull the trigger before the revolver fired — he even appeared on ABC in December 2021 to assert this to a national audience — but an FBI forensic report later determined the gun could not have fired if the trigger wasn't pulled.

Multiple civil claims have been filed over the shooting, with plaintiffs in some lawsuits named as defendants in others. Fingers have been pointed in all directions.

Hutchins' family in February filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Baldwin and others in New Mexico's First Judicial District Court. In October, Baldwin announced he'd reached a settlement agreement with Hutchins' family.

The cinematographer's husband, Matthew Hutchins, said the movie would resume filming in 2023.

Attorneys for Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed criticized the district attorney's decision to file charges in statements issued Thursday, shortly after her announcement.

"This decision distorts Halyna Hutchins' tragic death and represents a terrible miscarriage of justice," Baldwin's attorney, Luke Nikas of the New York law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart and Sullivan, wrote in an email.

An attorney for the Hutchins family issued a statement lauding the decision.

"Our independent investigation also supports that charges are warranted. It is a comfort to the family that, in New Mexico, no one is above the law," wrote Brian J. Panish of the Los Angeles-based firm Panish Shea Boyle Ravipudi LLC.

Members of the Hutchins family "want to thank the Santa Fe Sheriff and the District Attorney for concluding their thorough investigation and determining that charges for involuntary manslaughter are warranted for the killing of Halyna Hutchins with conscious disregard for human life," Panish wrote.

"We support the charges, will fully cooperate with this prosecution, and fervently hope the justice system works to protect the public and hold accountable those who break the law," he added.

Andrea Reeb, hired by the district attorney as a special prosecutor in the case, said in a statement Thursday, "If any one of these three people — Alec Baldwin, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed or David Halls — had done their job, Halyna Hutchins would be alive today. It's that simple.

"The evidence clearly shows a pattern of criminal disregard for safety on the 'Rust' film set. In New Mexico, there is no room for film sets that don't take our state's commitment to gun safety and public safety seriously," she added.

She and Carmack-Altwies said they will formally file charges in the First Judicial District Court before the end of the month.

After the charges are filed, each defendant will be issued a summons to appear in court, the prosecutors' statement says. Then a judge will hold a hearing to determine if there is probable cause to prosecute.

Nikas said in a statement Thursday that Baldwin will fight the manslaughter charge.

"Mr. Baldwin had no reason to believe there was a live bullet in the gun — or anywhere on the movie set," Nikas wrote. "He relied on the professionals with whom he worked, who assured him the gun did not have live rounds. We will fight these charges, and we will win."

Gutierrez-Reed's attorney, Jason Bowles, said in a statement the charges "are the result of a very flawed investigation, and an inaccurate understanding of the full facts. We intend to bring the full truth to light, and believe Hannah will be exonerated of wrongdoing by a jury."

Halls' attorney, Lisa Torraco, said he'll continue to cooperate with the District Attorney's Office.

"Mr. Halls and I worked closely with the D.A. in an attempt to get closure for Mr. Halls, and for the family of Ms. Hutchins and Mr. Souza," Torraco wrote.

She said Halls "hopes for changes in the film industry so this never happens to anyone again."

"At the time of the incident, all fingers were pointed to Mr. Halls with ridiculous and exaggerated allegations," Torraco added. "We appreciate the time and effort put into the case by the D.A., Ms. Carmack-Altwies. She obviously did a complete and objective review of the credible evidence and determined that Mr. Halls was the least culpable."