Alec Baldwin to be charged with involuntary manslaughter in ‘Rust’ movie set shooting

Alec Baldwin will be criminally charged by New Mexico prosecutors for the 2021 fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film “Rust,” authorities said Thursday.

Baldwin, the Emmy-winning star of “30 Rock” and dozens of films including “The Hunt for Red October,” shot the bullet that killed Hutchins. He and the movie’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, each will be charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter.


One of the counts is for involuntary manslaughter, in which prosecutors will have to prove there is underlying negligence, prosecutors said. The charge is a fourth-degree felony and carries a sentence of up to 18 months in jail and a $5,000 fine.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/19/alec-baldwin-to-be-charged-in-fatal-rust-shooting.html

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Surprised it took this long. I think it's an appropriate charge for him. I would expect like 10 years of probation and some hefty fines will be the final outcome. What say you?

 

Glad he was charged! Neglectful handling of a firearm should be punished.

 

Voluntary Manslaughter sentence, not sure what involuntary would be

https://people.com/celebrity/preachers-wife-sentenced-to-three-years-in-jail/

"Mary Winkler, the Tennessee woman convicted in April of voluntary manslaughter in the 2006 shooting death of her husband, preacher Matthew Winkler, was sentenced Friday to three years in prison.

However, Judge Weber McCraw said she must serve just 210 days, or about seven months, of her sentence before she can be released on probation, the Associated Press reports. She gets credit for the five months she has already spent in jail."

 

Fine and Probation...

 

I have a feeling he wont get any jail time.

 

As much as I dislike this guy, movie sets are different.
There is never a reason to have live ammo, afaik, and you have a specialist (armorer) to manage firearm danger.
The last person to handle the gun before the actor himself was the armorer. The title of “armorer” tells me it was their job to prevent exactly this. That is who was negligent.
For all the fake killing on TV and movie sets, the actor is handled the prop ready to go. Movie sets have proven to be safe from real firearm deaths cause by bullets. (Even when the actor - cops kill more bad guys in one episode than an entire police department does in a year!)

 

same, I do not even think the jury will find him guilty

this should be a civil case, that they would lose imo

 

I think they will find him guilty because the threshold is fairly light for this and he was one of the producers. But I think it will be just probation and no jail time

 

Civilly I think he would be guilty, criminally no - he did hire someone to make sure the guns were safe

 

Yeah they charged both Baldwin and the person hired to handle.

 

the person hired could be found guilty for sure

that was her only job, she failed

 

While I don't mind Alec Baldwin, your view here is pretty much the same as mine. It's not like Baldwin picked up a random gun laying around and just started firing it.

 

Yeah I think she is going to be convicted fairly easily. I think Baldwin will too, regardless of his actions, because of his name and status as a director.

 

I think they will weed out the people that had issues with him mocking Trump, so doubt it

 

Baldwin is one of several producers on the project, it'll be interesting to see how much responsibility they assign to him. The disposition of the criminal charges will likely impact any civil penalties that are imposed. Chances are we'll never hear about the civil judgment; I suspect Baldwin's team will offer beaucoup bucks to the victim's family to keep it quiet.

 

Glad to hear that armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was charged. I'd say prison and a fine for her, and a fine and probation for Baldwin. Possibly even an acquittal for Baldwin as IMHO, it was the armorer who was responsible for making sure the gun was safe for him to use on set. I don't like Alec Baldwin much, but I'm not going to let that interfere with my own judgment regarding the occurrence that led to this tragedy.

 

"I wonder how it must feel to wrongfully kill someone."

~ Alec Baldwin on Twitter in 2017, following a police shooting he disapproved of. It looks like he's answered his own question.

 

Don't forget, someone died, if that even matters anymore ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

Exactly. And I've handled guns on movie sets.

 

As an avid gun owner and shooter this argument sickens me. No one I know that knows anything about guns would not fall for it either. Any gun owner knows that you never pull a trigger on a gun you personally have not inspected for safety. Specially if you’re doing a prop like this. He is more at fault in my opinion than the armorer. She definitely messed up on her job but in the end it could have been prevented by a simple inspection before pointing a gun at someone and pulling the trigger.

If someone was to give me a gun and I presumed it to be unloaded and pulled the trigger that resulted in someone’s death I would most definitely be charged. I’m glad he is getting the same treatment

 

I agree 100% that movie sets should not have live ammo. Albeit there may be some scenarios, but then a certified instructor should be the only one to handle it until the exact moment. Clearly proper procedure was not followed.

 

Baldwin will an undeserved slap on the wrist instead of some sort of real punishment. This criminal case must come as a blessing to those who are suing him.

 

Well I'm sure that will be his defense if this goes to trial.

 

I feel bad for him. I really do. LOL.

 

Did the gun go directly from the armorer to Baldwin or did it first go to someone else who then handed it to Baldwin? Chain of custody could play a role in whether Baldwin is found guilty or not.