American actor Alec Baldwin could face a new indictment in the case of the fatal shooting on the set of the film Rust in 2021, prosecutors announced Tuesday, after charges against the actor for manslaughter were formally dropped in April. A grand jury, a citizens' commission with investigative powers in the United States, must decide in the next two months whether or not to indict him.
On October 21, 2021, the filming of the western Rust in New Mexico turned tragic when Alec Baldwin pointed a gun that was supposed to contain only blank bullets, but whose real projectile killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza.
"After an extensive investigation over the past several months, new facts have emerged that we believe demonstrate Mr. Baldwin's criminal culpability in the death of Halyna Hutchins and the shooting of Joel Souza," prosecutors Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis said Tuesday.
Alec Baldwin has maintained his innocence from the start. The 65-year-old actor has always maintained that he was assured that his gun was harmless and also denies pulling the trigger. But ballistics experts hired by prosecutors concluded that Alec Baldwin must have pulled the trigger for the gun to go off.
The film's armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, already faces charges of manslaughter and tampering with evidence, to which she has pleaded not guilty ahead of her trial scheduled for 2024. In early October, the film's producers were ordered to hand over certain documents, including Alec Baldwin's contracts.
Prosecutors had argued before a judge that this information, including how "Mr. Baldwin himself benefits financially from low production costs," could be relevant to the investigation. Alec Baldwin and the film's other producers are also facing several civil lawsuits from a dozen plaintiffs over the death of Halyna Hutchins.
Filming on Rust resumed in April in Montana, with Halyna Hutchins' widower, Matthew, serving as executive producer. In October 2022, he dropped the civil lawsuit against Alec Baldwin over an undisclosed settlement.