A judge dismissed the case against actor Alec Baldwin for his role in the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the Rust film set. Here are the key takeaways from the trial and what to expect next. Photo / Getty Images
A judge dismissed the case against actor Alec Baldwin for his role in the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the Rust film set. Here are the key takeaways from the trial and what to expect next. Photo / Getty Images
Charges against the actor have been dropped after new evidence emerged that rendered his trial null. What happened to the prosecution’s case, why did it crumble, and what can Baldwin expect next?
Almost as quickly as it had started, the involuntary manslaughter case against Alec Baldwin for his role in the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, 42, on the Rust film set was dismissed by the trial’s presiding judge in New Mexico.
Judge Mary Marlowe Summer decided to dismiss the trial on June 12 after Baldwin’s legal team presented arguments alleging the prosecutors had withheld evidence linked to the shooting.
“There are too many people who have supported me to thank just now,” Baldwin posted on Instagram the next day with a photo of himself in the Santa Fe County District Courthouse.
“To all of you, you will never know how much I appreciate your kindness toward my family.”
Although the involuntary manslaughter case has been thrown out, it doesn’t spell the end of legal woes for those who worked on Rust. Here’s everything you need to know about the judge’s ruling and Baldwin’s next moves.
Actor Alec Baldwin listens during his hearing at Santa Fe County District Court on July 10. Photo / Getty Images
The charges laid on Alec Baldwin
Baldwin had officially been working on the Western epic Rust, which he produced and co-wrote with director Joel Souza, since May 2020. Filming began in New Mexico on October 6, 2021.
The 66-year-old actor previously described the yet-to-be-released film as his “passion project” and he starred as the lead character Harland Rust.
On October 21, 12 days into its 21-day film schedule, Baldwin pointed a prop revolver gun at Hutchins during a rehearsal on set. The prop gun was loaded with live ammunition when it fired while Baldwin was holding it. The discharge killed Hutchins while Souza was injured.
Baldwin maintains he never pulled the trigger before it was fired.
Rust armourer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, 26, loaded Baldwin’s gun before he fired it and was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in March. She was sentenced to 18 months in prison - the maximum possible for her charges - in April, after prosecutors successfully argued she failed to ensure the safety of others when using the weapons on set.
Rust assistant director and safety coordinator David Halls was also handed six months unsupervised probation after he was charged with negligent use of a deadly weapon and pleaded no contest to the misdemeanour.
Alec Baldwin speaks with investigators following the fatal shooting on the Rust movie set in Santa Fe. Photo / Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office via AP
Prosecutors charged Baldwin with involuntary manslaughter in January 2023. However, these charges were minimised and then dropped completely after “new facts were revealed that demand further investigation and forensic analysis”, according to the prosecution.
Baldwin was presented with a fresh set of charges in January 2024, with a grand jury indicting him on an involuntary manslaughter charge, one charge of negligently handling the prop gun, and one charge of causing death “with the total disregard or indifference for the safety of others”.
These charges led Baldwin to his most recent trial, which has since been dismissed.
Why did the judge dismiss the case?
Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed the case against Baldwin after she found prosecutors failed to disclose evidence to Baldwin’s legal team. The evidence in question concerns several rounds of bullets, potentially tied to the Rust shooting, that were handed into the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office a few months ago.
How live ammunition made its way onto the Rust set and into the revolver remains one of the key questions still unresolved by the courts. Answering it is integral to figuring out just how Hutchins died.
Baldwin’s legal team argued the evidence leaned in the actor’s favour and challenged the prosecution’s arguments as it created uncertainty over how the live rounds ended up on set. The defence suggested that the rounds were evidence that Seth Kenney, the movie’s prop supplier, provided the live ammunition and that prosecutors chose to withhold it.
A still from a video clip featuring Alec Baldwin shown during the involuntary manslaughter trial of Hannah Gutierrez-Reed at the First Judicial District Courthouse in February. Photo / Getty Images
Marlowe Sommer said the prosecution’s failure to share the evidence with Baldwin’s defence was “intentional and deliberate” and that it should have been done before the trial so they could structure their defence around it.
“There is no way for the court to right this wrong,” said Marlowe Sommer. “The sanction of dismissal is the only warranted remedy.”
The case was dismissed by Marlowe Summer with prejudice, meaning that Baldwin can’t be handed the same charges or trialled again for his involvement. The judge’s ruling doesn’t prevent prosecutors from appealing the dismissal, however, it remains to be seen whether they will take it to an appeals court.
Is Baldwin out of the woods yet?
Although Baldwin has been cleared of the case against him, he may still deal with civil lawsuits brought forward by those involved in the Rust shooting.
In 2022, the Washington Post reported that Baldwin settled a wrongful death lawsuit brought by Matthew Hutchins, the late cinematographer’s husband.
However, Variety reported in March that Hutchins had not received specific payments required under the settlement agreement and was looking to restart a civil lawsuit.
The Hutchins family’s attorney, Brian J Panish, suggested they would be resuming a civil suit against the actor in a statement made after the news broke of the case’s dismissal.
“We look forward to presenting all the evidence to a jury and holding Mr Baldwin accountable for his actions in the senseless death of Halyna Hutchins,” Panish said.
Hilaria Baldwin comforts her husband actor Alec Baldwin during his involuntary manslaughter trial in Santa Fe. Photo / Getty Images
It may be some time before Baldwin’s legal woes are over but production for Rust was finished last year, allowing most workers to move on to their next project. The release date remains unknown.
Baldwin himself will soon star in a reality TV series with his family called The Baldwins on TLC. Poised for release in 2025, the show will follow the lives of Baldwin, his wife Hilaria Baldwin and their seven kids.
The New York Post confirmed that the Baldwins were shooting footage for the reality show during the New Mexico trial, with photos and videos showing the actor and his family being filmed around Santa Fe.
“The filming is full speed ahead,” an insider from TLC told the paper. “The trial will probably be a storyline.”
On NewsNation’s Cuomo, host Chris Cuomo interviewed Erlinda Ocampo Johnson, a special prosecutor who resigned from the case on Friday after learning of the buried evidence. She said it had become clear the case was in trouble and agreed with the judge’s decision to dismiss it.
“We have an obligation as prosecutors,” Ocampo Johnson said to Cuomo. “We have an obligation not only to the people, but to the defendant, and our obligation is to make sure that all evidence is turned over.”
Alec Baldwin and his family have reportedly been filming footage for their upcoming reality TV series during the trial. Photo / @hilariabaldwin
President of West Coast Trial Lawyers, Neama Rahmani, told the Washington Post that armourer Gutierrez-Reed’s involuntary manslaughter conviction was “likely to be reversed” after prosecutors “botched” their case against Baldwin.
Entertainment attorney Tre Lovell also told the paper that charges should never have been brought against Baldwin given his role as an actor.
“Actors do not have the ultimate responsibility for safety on a movie set. There are professionals on the set who have that responsibility and it should stay with them, because they’re the experts,” Lovell said.
“On movie sets, everyone has a specific duty and obligation, everybody’s got a job to do. And the moment you start having people do other people’s jobs, it compromises safety and it invites chaos.”
