SANTA FE, N.M. — Prosecutors in New Mexico plan to drop an involuntary manslaughter charge against Alec Baldwin in the fatal 2021 shooting of a cinematographer on the set of the Western film “ Rust,” Baldwin’s attorneys said Thursday.
“We are pleased with the decision to dismiss the case against Alec Baldwin and we encourage a proper investigation into the facts and circumstances of this tragic accident,” Baldwin’s attorneys Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro said in a statement.
Heather Brewer, a spokeswoman for the Santa Fe district attorney’s office, declined to comment on the status of the criminal charges against Baldwin and weapons supervisor Hannah Gutierrez-Reed when reached by telephone Thursday.
That left it unclear whether charges against Baldwin could be refiled later, and whether prosecutors will continue to pursue an involuntary manslaughter charge against Gutierrez-Reed.
“This is very different from what the original prosecutor said,” noted John Day, a Santa Fe-based criminal defense attorney, highlighting the arrival of a new prosecution team on the “Rust” case in late March.
“It does raise the question of initially the Santa Fe district attorney saying we’re holding Alec Baldwin responsible in part because of the role as CEO of the production and (that) it was a very sloppy production. Does this mean that the new prosecutors have a different point of view?”
When word of the dismissal came, Baldwin was at Yellowstone Film Ranch on the set of a rebooted “Rust” production. Preparations for filming were underway Thursday at its new location in Montana, 18 months after the shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins shut it down, a representative for Rust Movie Productions said.
Baldwin was pointing a pistol at Hutchins during a rehearsal when the gun when off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.
Baldwin has said the gun went off accidentally and that he did not pull the trigger. An FBI forensic report found the weapon could not have fired unless the trigger was pulled.
Gutierrez-Reed’s attorneys said that they “fully expect at the end of this process that Hannah will also be exonerated.”
“The truth about what happened will come out and the questions that we have long sought answers for will be answered,” the lawyers, Jason Bowles and Todd Bullion, said in a statement.
The case against Baldwin had already been diminishing. A weapons charge that would have meant a much longer sentence had already been dismissed, and the first special prosecutor appointed in the case resigned.
The charges against Baldwin had marked a stunning fall for an A-list actor.