The state of New Mexico approved a budget item of 317,000 dollars that the Prosecutor's Office requested as a necessary endowment in the event that it finally decides to file charges and prosecute four involved, including actor Alec Baldwin, in the accident that killed the director of photography Halyna Hutchings, during the filming of
Rust.
According to the
Los Angeles Times
, the money, which the Santa Fe County Prosecutor, Mary Carmack-Altwies, requested by letter a few weeks ago, will serve to appoint a special prosecutor, Andrea Reeb, as supervisor of the case and to cover all the costs related to the process.
An FBI investigation concluded that the actor pulled the trigger of the gun that killed Hutchings during the filming, while the interpreter has always defended that the revolver went off only when he dropped the hammer.
More information
The FBI concludes that Alec Baldwin pulled the trigger of the gun that killed a woman on a film set
In a letter dated August 30, revealed by the local newspaper
Santa Fe New Mexican
and collected by various US media, Carmack-Altwies advanced that up to four people could face criminal charges for the fatal accident and requested funding for the case.
"One of the possible defendants is the renowned actor Alec Baldwin," she indicated in that letter, which he did not mention the other three involved.
The prosecutor stressed that "if the charges are justified", she planned to prosecute the four people "immediately" in a case that would be "expensive" and for which she requested an emergency fund of $635,000, double what was finally agreed. .
For his part, Baldwin's attorney, Luke Nikas, responded Monday with a statement in which he assured that "the District Attorney's Office made it clear that it has not received the
sheriff
's report nor has it made a decision on whether and against whom charges will be filed. ”.
“During my communications with the prosecutor's office just a few weeks ago, after the August 30 funding request was filed, I was told it would be premature to discuss the case because they had not yet reviewed the file and deliberated on the charging decision. ”, he added.
The
Rust
case focuses on the event that occurred on the set of this film on October 21, when director of photography Halyna Hutchins died after being shot by a gun held by actor Alec Baldwin during a rehearsal.
Director Joel Souza was also injured during the accident.
After this, the Hutchins family denounced Baldwin for reckless homicide, but the Prosecutor's Office has not filed any charges against the actor.
In a parallel investigation, the authorities of New Mexico (United States) imposed a fine of 140,000 dollars in April to the producers of the filming of
Rust,
including Baldwin, for not guaranteeing the security protocol.
