Alec Baldwin not yet ‘absolved’ in ‘Rust’ shooting though case was ‘weak,’ legal experts say
Legal experts agree that the involuntary manslaughter charges against Baldwin were going to be tough to prove but say the actor is not 'in the clear' yet, given that the investigation is ongoing.
With news spreading Thursday that New Mexico prosecutors planned to drop all charges against Alec Baldwin in the “Rust” shooting, the actor looked eager to put the case behind him and celebrate his apparent exoneration by paying tribute to his wife and attorney.
But prosecutors suggest Baldwin’s celebration may be premature, saying they continue to investigate the October 2021 shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the low-budget Western. They also said charges could be refiled in the future.
That’s not how Baldwin took the news, posting a photo of himself on Instagram snuggling with his wife, Hilaria Baldwin, and captioning it: “I owe everything I have to this woman. (and to you, Luke).” Baldwin was referring to his attorney, Luke Nikas, Page Six said.
— Clown World
(@ClownWorld_) April 21, 2023
Later Thursday, prosecutors issued an official statement, confirming their decision to dismiss charges against Baldwin. However, they said the decision was made, “pending further investigation.”
“This decision does not absolve Mr. Baldwin of criminal culpability and charges may be refiled,” special prosecutors, Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis, said in a statement obtained by Deadline.
Prosecutors nonetheless acknowledged a point made by legal experts Thursday — that they didn’t have sufficient evidence at this time to prove Baldwin is guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
Hutchins was killed during a rehearsal on the film’s New Mexico set, when a gun Baldwin was handling went off, discharging a live round that killed Hutchins. Baldwin said he was told by crew members that the gun was safe to use — that it held no live rounds. In a December 2021 ABC News interview, he also insisted he didn’t pull the trigger and only pointed it in Hutchins’ direction because she told him to.
Prosecutors were preparing for a May 3 preliminary hearing, during which they were expected to lay out their evidence to show that Baldwin’s negligence contributed to Hutchins’ death. Morrissey and Lewis’ said Thursday that “new facts were revealed that demand further investigation and forensic analysis” before they can proceed with their case against Baldwin.
“Consequently, we cannot proceed under the current time constraints and on the facts and evidence turned over by law enforcement in its existing form,” their statement said.
Los Angeles criminal defense attorney Ambrosio Rodriguez said the case against Baldwin had been “very weak” from the start and “should never have been filed in the first place.”
“The district attorney’s office has a lot of questions to answer,” said Rodriguez, a former prosecutor with the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office, in an email to this news organization. “The DA’s office either blinked, realizing that Baldwin was going to put up an aggressive defense, or something happened to the case that the public isn’t aware of yet.”
Since New Mexico prosecutors filed charges against Baldwin in late January, legal experts have said it would be tough to prove that Baldwin was criminally negligent. They say he was an actor on a film set, where certain crew members usually are responsible for checking weapons to make sure they are safe to use. On the set of “Rust,” a live round somehow ended up in the revolver Baldwin was given for rehearsing a gunfight scene. Armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed had prepared the gun for the scene, while assistant director Dave Halls handed the weapon to Baldwin and told him it was safe to use.
Gutierrez-Reed also was charged with involuntary manslaughter. Prosecutors said Thursday that those charges “remain unchanged,” Deadline reported. Halls reached a plea deal with prosecutors to testify in the case and was sentenced to six months of unsupervised probation.
“What’s their theory of the case?” former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani, of West Coast Trial Lawyers, asked in January. “Is it because Baldwin had an independent duty to inspect the gun and not rely on what (others) told him? Is it because you should never point a gun at another human being, or that he actually pulled the trigger despite saying he didn’t? All of these are going to be scrutinized heavily, and prosecutors will need something to hang their hats on.”
Atlanta-based personal injury attorney Ted Spaulding said Thursday it was going to be difficult for prosecutors to make as strong a case against Baldwin as they could against Gutierrez-Reed. That’s because it ultimately was her job to ensure there were no live rounds in the gun. “The actor has the legal right to assume that the armorer did their job,” Spaulding said.
Los Angeles personal injury attorney Miguel Custodio offered another reason the case against Baldwin was not as strong as prosecutors thought. “Not having an answer as to the source of the live rounds is a big flaw,” said Custodio.
“They may also have come to a realization that they perhaps were trying to hold Baldwin to higher degrees of responsibility because he also was a producer, but that’s also a tenuous link,” Custodio added. “Were they charging Baldwin solely on his role as the actor who fired the killing shot, or as a producer whose safety protocols were in shambles?”
However, Custodio agreed that Baldwin hasn’t been totally absolved in the case.
“Baldwin still isn’t in the clear, considering he still insists he never pulled the trigger even though an FBI forensic analysis shows that’s the only way the gun could be fired,” he said.