Alec Baldwin was indicted by a grand jury today on charges related to the 2021 death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was fatally shot by Baldwin during rehearsals for his upcoming film, Rust (via AP).
The case was brought before a Santa Fe grand jury by special prosecutors this week after new evidence allegedly came to light regarding the weapon that ultimately ended 42-year-old Ukrainian cinematographer Halyna Hutchins’ life.
On April 20th, 2023, all criminal charges against Baldwin–whose statements regarding whether he pulled the trigger frequently contradicted each other–were ultimately dropped, while charges against the on-set armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed proceeded as planned. But now the indictment of Baldwin could see him held criminally liable for the death of Hutchins.
The special prosecutors involved reportedly refused to provide any statements to the media after spending about a day and a half presenting their findings to the grand jury. But Baldwin’s attorneys, Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro, stated in an email that they “look forward to our day in court,” and intend to fight the charges.
Baldwin served as both the star of the film and one of its main producers, making him responsible for the production of the film, which saw several crew members walk off set and quit on the spot citing safety concerns. At least one accidental discharge of a firearm occurred on set prior to the shot that hit both Hutchins and director Joel Souza, who were filming a rehearsal for a scene in which Baldwin was planning to fire the weapon at the camera. Souza was not critically wounded, but Hutchins was airlifted to University of New Mexico Hospital, where she was pronounced dead upon arrival.
The current court proceedings related to the case have been kept mostly under wraps, but AP confirmed that two of the witnesses spotted at the courthouse this week were crew members who had worked on the set of the film. One of the crew members was on set when the fatal incident occurred, while the other crew member was part of the group who had walked off set the day before the shooting due to concerns about safety.
If found criminally liable for Hutchins’ death, Baldwin could potentially face prison time.