Written by Brad Brooks
(Reuters) – A criminal case in New Mexico against actor Alec Baldwin related to a fatal shooting incident during the filming of his movie “Rust” in 2021 ended on Monday, with the prosecutor dropping her appeal to dismiss the case.
Special Prosecutor Carrie Morrissey withdrew that appeal, according to a statement from the Frist Judicial District Attorney's Office.
“Today's decision to deny the appeal is the ultimate proof of what Alec Baldwin and his lawyers have said from the beginning – this was an unspeakable tragedy, but Alec Baldwin committed no crime,” Baldwin's attorneys, Luke Nicas and Alex Spiro, said in a statement.
A New Mexico judge dismissed manslaughter charges against Baldwin in July, agreeing with the actor's attorney that Morrissey and the sheriff's office concealed evidence about the source of the live shot that killed “Rust” cinematographer Halena Hutchins in 2021.
The district attorney's office said it remains strongly opposed to the judge's decision to dismiss the case against Baldwin.
But the decision to drop the appeal of that decision was made after the District Attorney's Office informed Morrissey that it “does not intend to comprehensively pursue the appeal on behalf of the prosecution,” according to the statement.
Hutchins died when Baldwin pointed a gun at her while they were setting up a camera to shoot a movie near Santa Fe. The gun fired a live round that was inadvertently loaded by the film's chief weapons handler, Hannah Gutierrez. Gutierrez was convicted of manslaughter in March and sentenced a month later.
The “30 Rock” actor denied pulling the trigger and said he was instructed to point the trigger at the camera. But the FBI and an independent firearms expert found that the gun would not fire without pulling the trigger.
Hutchins' killing was the first fatal on-set shooting involving a live round mistaken for a dummy or blank bullet since the Hollywood silent era, according to historian Alan Rudd.
Hollywood shootings in the past have been settled through civil lawsuits, such as the most recent death in 1993 when Brandon Lee was killed when a blank round dislodged a bullet that was stuck in the barrel of a gun during the filming of “The Crow.”
