Key Points
- Alec Baldwin has been charged with involuntary manslaughter for a second time over a death on a film set in 2021.
- Baldwin was pointing a prop gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal when it went off, killing her.
- Prosecutors dismissed an initial involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin in April.
A grand jury has indicted Alec Baldwin on an involuntary manslaughter charge in connection to a fatal 2021 shooting during a rehearsal on a movie set in New Mexico, reviving a dormant case against the actor.
Prosecutors brought the case before a grand jury in Santa Fe this week, months after receiving a new analysis of the gun that was used.
Lawyers for Baldwin indicated they'll fight the charge.
"We look forward to our day in court," Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro said in an email.
While the proceeding is shrouded in secrecy, two of the witnesses seen at the courthouse included crew members — one who was present when the fatal shot was fired and another who had walked off the set the day before due to safety concerns.
Baldwin, the lead actor and a co-producer on the Western movie Rust, was pointing a prop gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal on a movie set outside Santa Fe in October 2021 when the gun went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza.
Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer, but not the trigger, and the gun fired.
The fatal firing took place during rehearsals on the set of the Western film Rust. Source: AAP / Jae C. Hong/AP
Plaintiffs in those suits include members of the film crew.
Special prosecutors dismissed an involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin in April, saying they were informed the gun might have been modified before the shooting and malfunctioned.
They later pivoted and began weighing whether to refile a charge against Baldwin after receiving a new analysis of the gun.
The analysis from experts in ballistics and forensic testing relied on replacement parts to reassemble the gun fired by Baldwin, after parts of the pistol were broken during testing by the FBI.
The report examined the gun and markings it left on a spent cartridge to conclude that the trigger had to have been pulled or depressed.
The analysis led by Lucien Haag of Forensic Science Services in Arizona stated that although Baldwin repeatedly denied pulling the trigger, "given the tests, findings and observations reported here, the trigger had to be pulled or depressed sufficiently to release the fully cocked or retracted hammer of the evidence revolver."
The weapons supervisor on the movie set, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter and evidence tampering in the case.
Her trial is scheduled to begin in February.
Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was accidentally shot and killed by a bullet from a prop gun discharged by Baldwin on the set of Rust. Source: Getty / Fred Hayes
He agreed to cooperate in the investigation of the shooting.
An earlier FBI report on the agency's analysis of the gun found that, as is common with firearms of that design, it could go off without pulling the trigger if force was applied to an uncocked hammer, such as by dropping the weapon.
The only way the testers could get it to fire was by striking the gun with a mallet while the hammer was down and resting on the cartridge, or by pulling the trigger while it was fully cocked. The gun eventually broke during testing.
The 2021 shooting resulted in a series of civil lawsuits, including wrongful death claims filed by members of Hutchins' family.
Baldwin and other defendants have disputed those allegations.
The Rust Movie Productions company paid a $US100,000 ($151,648) fine to state workplace safety regulators.
The filming of Rust resumed last year in Montana, under an agreement with the cinematographer's widower, Matthew Hutchins, that made him an executive producer.
