Following news that Alec Baldwin has been charged with involuntary manslaughter over the 2021 Rust movie shooting, legal experts have weighed in on what this could mean.
As previously reported, 64-year-old Baldwin was involved in a distressing incident that saw a prop gun he was holding discharge and fatally wound cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, 42.
The 30 Rock actor had been rehearsing a scene on the set of the Western film Rust in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Following the tragic incident, Baldwin has repeatedly maintained that he did not know that the gun was loaded and that he never pulled the trigger.
On Thursday (January 19), district attorney for New Mexico’s first judicial district Mary Carmack-Altwies and special prosecutor Andrea Reeb announced that they were charging Baldwin with involuntary manslaughter.
The movie's armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, has also been charged.
At the time, Carmack-Altwies stated: "Actor and producer Alec Baldwin and armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed will each be charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter. I have determined that there is sufficient evidence.
"On my watch, no one is above the law, and everyone deserves justice," she added.
Following this, Baldwin released a statement through his lawyer Luke Nikas, who said the charges "distort Halyna Hutchins' tragic death and represents a terrible miscarriage of justice," via Sky News.
"Mr Baldwin had no reason to believe there was a live bullet in the gun - or anywhere on the movie set. 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," Nikas continued.
Hutchins' family has welcomed the charges, saying Baldwin showed "conscious disregard for human life."
Experts have also weighed in on the charges, including former attorneys and prosecutors who have been following the development of the situation since the shooting occurred.
"Prosecutors have taken a bold step by charging Baldwin," former Los Angeles County prosecutor Joshua Ritter told The Independent.
"He has some built-in defenses with the fact that he wasn’t the person responsible for making sure the gun was cleared and that there were multiple people on set whose job was to ensure everything was safe. But at the end of the day, the gun was in his hands," Ritter continued.
Though, Ritter did add that he could be making it "worse" for himself by frequently commenting on the incident, saying: "I find it astounding how much Baldwin has talked about this case since the shooting. His attorneys need to sit on his chest until this plays out because the more he opens his mouth the worse he’s making it for himself."
This was echoed by former prosecutor Neama Rahmani, who told Reuters: "It’s a very aggressive charging decision, and the defense has a strong case."
However, speaking to the New York Post, Los Angeles criminal law defense attorney Lou Shapiro says that Baldwin may be able to come out of the trial unscathed, due to the fact that "there were several other people who handled that weapon before him" and that the actor has already settled a civil suit over the shooting with Hutchins' family.
