Grand Jury Considers ‘Recharging’ Alec Baldwin in RUST Shooting
By Movieguide® Contributor
Prosecutors are getting ready to present evidence to a grand jury concerning Alec Baldwin and the fatal shooting that took place on the set of RUST.
It’s unknown if the criminal charges against Baldwin will be revived.
“Special prosecutors initially dismissed an involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin in April, saying they were informed the gun might have been modified before the shooting and malfunctioned,” USA Today reported. “They later pivoted after receiving a new analysis of the gun and will ask a grand jury to consider recharging Baldwin.”
USA Today added, “Baldwin, lead actor and co-producer of RUST, was pointing a 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.”
Another new development concerns videos taken on the set of the movie, which were obtained by NBC News. The videos show Baldwin handling the prop guns, but they were taken days before the shooting took place.
“The five videos show Baldwin preparing for scenes, firing the guns and acting in character. In two of them, he tries to rearrange crew members after having expressed concerns about their safety,” NBC wrote. “The five videos total about seven minutes of footage, and the crew was shooting for two weeks before production was shut down.”
In one of the videos, Baldwin says, “Now wait a second, if I am going to shoot right, do you want to go to the other side of the camera? I don’t want to shoot towards you,” speaking to the crew.
The Daily Mail reported that the videos of Baldwin are just some of the “dozens” that were requested by prosecutors “and didn’t receive until October, a source claimed to the outlet.”
“It remains unclear how much footage prosecutors have reviewed or whether they’ve reviewed any of the five videos,” the outlet continued. “The five videos could be presented to the grand jury.”
Movieguide® previously reported on the reopening of Baldwin’s case:
New evidence in the RUST shooting investigation places culpability on Alec Baldwin, reopening his manslaughter case, which was dropped nearly six months ago.
“After extensive investigation over the past several months, additional facts have come to light that we believe show Mr. Baldwin has criminal culpability in the death of Halyna Hutchins and the shooting of Joel Souza,” said Special Prosecutors Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis.
“We believe the appropriate course of action is to permit a panel of New Mexico citizens to determine from here whether Mr. Baldwin should be held over for criminal trial,” they said earlier in the week.
While Baldwin and his legal team have asserted that he did not pull the trigger on the gun – and is therefore not liable for the accident – both the FBI and independent weapons examiners have confirmed that the trigger had to have been pulled for the gun to go off.
