Prosecutors weigh 2nd gun analysis, whether to refile charges against Alec Baldwin in ‘Rust’ shooting
SANTE FE, New Mexico (WISH) — Prosecutors could refile charges against Alec Baldwin for the deadly shooting of a cinematographer during the filming of the movie “Rust” in Santa Fe.
It’s been nearly two years since Alec Baldwin held a prop gun that went off on the “Rust” set, shooting and killing Halyna Hutchins in 2021.
Prosecutors charged Baldwin and the set’s armorer, Hannah Guiterrez Reed, with two counts of involuntary manslaughter. Eighteen months after Hutchins’ death, in April 2023, Baldwin got word that the charges were dropped. That may now change.
Prosecutors in New Mexico recently received a second analysis of the gun that was fired by Baldwin.
Ballistics and forensic experts recently told prosecutors there is no way the gun could have fired without the trigger being “depressed significantly.”
Baldwin has said that he never pulled the trigger. He says the gun went off when he pulled back the hammer, not the trigger. One ballistics expert said that was plausible because of possible modifications to the gun that led to a malfunction. Prosecutors then ordered the second analysis.
For the new gun analysis, the experts relied on new parts to reassemble the gun after parts of it were broken early in the FBI’s investigation.
“Although Alec Baldwin repeatedly denies 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,” Lucien Haag of Forensic Science Services in Arizona said in the analysis.
An attorney for Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the weapons supervisor on the movie set, disclosed the report in a court filing Tuesday. Gutierrez-Reed has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter and evidence tampering in the case. Her trial is scheduled to begin in December.
Defense attorneys for Baldwin did not immediately reply to an email Tuesday seeking comment on the gun analysis. A publicist declined to comment.
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