Alec Baldwin to be charged in fatal 'Rust' shooting

Actor Alec Baldwin and his legal team feel "blindsided" by today's charges, his attorney Luke Nikas told CNN in a statement Thursday.

They were not given any indication Baldwin would face criminal charges and say they "learned of the charges in the media," according to Nikas.

In her first televised interview after announcing the charging decisions, New Mexico’s First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies told CNN’s Josh Campbell her office was in “almost constant contact” with the opposing parties' attorneys “for about the last six weeks.”

Earlier Thursday, Nikas said the decision to charge "distorts Halyna Hutchins’ tragic death and represents a terrible miscarriage of justice."

“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 said.

Many other actors have said they “always check their guns or have someone check it front of them,” New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies told CNN shortly after announcing her intention of charging actor Alec Baldwin and film armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed with involuntary manslaughter.

She noted that some of those actors were even "A-list" celebrities.

"An actor does not get a free pass just because they are an actor. That is what is so important. We are saying here in New Mexico, that everyone is equal under the law," she added.

Carmack-Altwies said there were live rounds mixed in with dummy rounds and crews were not checking ammunition regularly.

Somehow, a live round got loaded into the gun that was handed to Baldwin.

Baldwin failing to check the gun before firing it is a key piece of information that prosecutors are using to argue that he was negligent about the safety standard, Carmack-Altwies said. Negligence is an important part of the involuntary manslaughter charge, according to CNN legal analyst Elliot Williams.

Overall, there was a “lack of safety and safety standards on set," the district attorney said.

The family of Halyna Hutchins, the cinematographer killed on the "Rust" movie set, said they support the charges that are expected to be filed against actor Alec Baldwin and film armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed.

“It is a comfort to the family that, in New Mexico, no one is above the law,” according to the statement.

Attorney Brian J. Panish, on behalf of the Hutchins family, issued the following statement:

The deadly shooting on the set of "Rust" in Santa Fe, New Mexico, took place in October 2021.

The film set shooting resulted in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins after she was struck by a live round of ammunition fired from a prop gun held by Alec Baldwin.

Here's a look at the scene following the shooting:

The New Mexico district attorney who plans to charge actor Alec Baldwin and the "Rust" set armorer with involuntary manslaughter charges says the pair will not be arrested ahead of their first court appearances.

District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said she will formally file the charges against Baldwin and the armorer, Hannah Gutierrez Reed, "before the end of this month."

"We will not be asking for an arrest," the district attorney told CNN's Josh Campbell.

"We'll send out what's called a summons. From that, the court will set what's called a first appearance, or, it's basically an arraignment. And at that point they will either have to come here (to New Mexico) or they might do a video arraignment, we have been doing those since Covid, and they will get their conditions of release and enter not guilty pleas."

The prosecutor told Campbell her office does not plan to charge anyone else in connection with the case.

Alec Baldwin had a responsibility on the set of “Rust” to check the gun he was holding, according to New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies.

“Every person that handles a gun has a duty to make sure, if they are going to handle that gun - point it at someone and pull the trigger – that it is not going to fire a projectile and kill someone, and this is really about justice for Halyna Hutchins,” she said to CNN’s Josh Campbell minutes after announcing charges in the case. 

Baldwin was both an actor and producer for the movie.

“He’s being charged as both. He was the actor that pulled the trigger, so certainly he’s charged as an actor, but also as a producer he also had a duty to make sure that the set was safe,” said Carmack-Altwies, noting that people on set had complained about the lax safety and there had been accidental misfires prior to this fatal incident.

“He should have been aware that safety was an issue on set and then as an actor that day, he should have checked that gun, checked those projectiles,” she said.

Shortly after announcing involuntary manslaughter charges against actor Alec Baldwin and "Rust" film armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed, District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies outlined why the deadly on-set shooting could result in criminal charges regardless of whether it was an accident.

"Just because it is an accident doesn't mean that it's not criminal," Carmack-Altwies said in an interview with CNN.

Alec Baldwin’s attorney Luke Nikas said New Mexico prosecutors' intention to charge the actor with involuntary manslaughter in the fatal "Rust" set shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins is a "terrible miscarriage of justice."

New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies told CNN why prosecutors believed there was probable cause to charge actor Alec Baldwin and armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed with involuntary manslaughter in the deadly "Rust" movie set shooting.

There were a number of contributing factors to the decision, she told CNN's Josh Campbell, including "a lack of safety and safety standards on that set, that there were live rounds on set; they were mixed in with regular dummy rounds."

"This was a really fast and loose set," she said, "and ... nobody was doing their job. There were three people, that if they had done their job that day, this tragedy wouldn't have happened — and that's David Halls and Hannah Gutierrez Reed and Alec Baldwin. If they had just done their basic duties, we wouldn't be standing here."

Assistant director Halls has signed a plea agreement for the charge of "negligent use of a deadly weapon."