Actor Alec Baldwin is facing criminal charges of involuntary manslaughter over the fatal set shooting of a cinematographer during a rehearsal of the western film Rust, according to prosecutors.
The Santa Fe district attorney, Mary Carmack-Altwies, announced the charges and plea deal on Thursday in a statement and on social media, without public appearances by prosecutors.
Carmack-Altwies said the charges against both Baldwin and Gutierrez Reed had not yet been filed on Thursday, but would be before the end of January.
An attorney for Baldwin, Luke Nikas, said his client “had no reason to believe there was a live bullet in the gun” on the day Hutchins was killed, and condemned the charges against the actor as “a terrible miscarriage of justice”.
“We will fight these charges,” Nikas’s statement said. “And we will win.”
Attorney for Hutchins’s husband, Matt Hutchins, issued his own statement thanking Carmack-Altwies and calling the charges her office plans to pursue “a comfort”.
“We … fervently hope the justice system works to protect the public and hold accountable those who break the law,” said the statement attributed to attorney Brian Panish.
Carmack-Altwies’s office also announced that Rust’s director, Joel Souza, would not face any charges in connection with the shooting death of the 42-year-old Hutchins. Souza had been shot and injured alongside Hutchins on the day she was mortally wounded.
Hutchins died shortly after being shot during setup for a scene at a ranch on the outskirts of Santa Fe on 21 October 2021. Baldwin was pointing a pistol at Hutchins when the gun went off, killing her and wounding Souza.