Baldwin asks judge to dismiss charges in fatal ‘Rust’ shooting
Actor’s attorneys say special prosecutors cut corners and conducted a ‘sham’ grand jury proceeding.
Alec Baldwin has asked a New Mexico judge to dismiss involuntary manslaughter charges against him in the deadly “Rust” movie shooting, alleging misconduct by prosecutors who have overseen the long-running case.
A grand jury in Santa Fe County indicted Baldwin in January on two counts of involuntary manslaughter for his role in the October 2021 accidental death of “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the low-budget western movie set. If convicted, the 65-year-old actor could serve up to 18 months in prison.
On Thursday, Baldwin’s attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the indictment. In the 52-page petition, they detailed a series of alleged missteps that they said threatened Baldwin’s constitutional right to receive a fair trial. His criminal trial is set to begin July 10 in a Santa Fe courtroom.
In the motion, Baldwin’s lead attorney, Luke Nikas, accused special prosecutors Kari T. Morrissey and Jason J. Lewis of conducting a “sham” grand jury proceeding against Baldwin earlier this year. The closed-door hearing occurred on Jan. 18 — just one day before the grand jury panel’s term of service ended. Baldwin’s attorneys contend the special prosecutors cut corners in their rush to win an indictment against the high-profile actor. They called just seven witnesses during the hearing, and only one was a witness to the shooting.
Grand jurors heard testimony from people who held a dim view of Baldwin and his actions, including a crew member who has filed a civil lawsuit against Baldwin and other producers, the motion said. Jurors did not have the benefit of hearing from several key crew members who were there that day and could have provided insight into the production, the lawyers said.
The new allegations come after high-profile mistakes last year by the previous set of prosecutors, including initially charging Baldwin with a criminal count that was not on the books in New Mexico when the fatal shooting occurred. After the first two prosecutors stepped down, Morrissey and Lewis took over the case nearly a year ago.
Baldwin has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
“State prosecutors have engaged in this misconduct — and publicly dragged Baldwin through the cesspool created by their improprieties — without any regard for the fact that serious criminal charges have been hanging over his head for two and a half years,” Baldwin’s attorneys wrote in the motion to dismiss. “Enough is enough. This is an abuse of the system, and an abuse of an innocent person whose rights have been trampled to the extreme.”
Morrissey declined to comment. In an email, she said a response would be filed with the court later this month.
Earlier this month, Morrissey and Lewis won a conviction of the film’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez. After a 10-day trial, a Santa Fe jury found the 26-year-old Arizona woman, who loaded the gun that day, guilty of involuntary manslaughter in Hutchins’ death. Gutierrez was taken into custody immediately after the verdict; her sentencing hearing is scheduled for April 15.
During Gutierrez’s trial, prosecutors introduced evidence that suggested Baldwin might also share responsibility for the tragedy by allegedly acting carelessly when handling his prop gun. Prosecutors played behindthe-scenes video from the set for jurors; one video from several days before the deadly shooting showed Baldwin rushing crew members to quickly reload his gun.
In her closing argument, Morrissey told jurors in the Gutierrez case that Baldwin also must answer for his actions.
The tragedy on the set of “Rust” brought added scrutiny to on-set safety, a key concern among Hollywood film crews.
Just hours before the fatal shooting, “Rust” camera crew members had walked off the set, on a sprawling movie location south of Santa Fe, to protest what they saw as safety concerns. Camera crew members pointed to accidental gun discharges and a lack of
nearby lodging.
Because of the camera team’s exodus, the remaining crew members were running behind that day.
Just after lunch, Baldwin and Hutchins were rehearsing a scene that was meant to be a camera close-up of Baldwin — who was playing a hardened outlaw, Harland Rust — slowly pulling his Colt .45 revolver from his shoulder holster while sitting in a pew in a rustic church. Baldwin has acknowledged pointing the revolver at Hutchins, who was standing next to the camera, and cocking the hammer. He had been told the gun was “cold,” meaning it had no live ammunition inside. But the gun contained five so-called dummy rounds and an actual bullet.
Baldwin has long maintained that he did not pull the gun’s trigger. Hutchins, the cinematographer, was standing two to three feet away when Baldwin’s gun discharged, firing the lead bullet that fatally struck her in the chest. The bullet also injured the film’s director, Joel Souza, who has recovered from his wound.
A month after the accident, Baldwin told ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos: “I didn’t pull the trigger . ... I would never point a gun at anyone and pull the trigger at them.”
Baldwin was first charged with involuntary manslaughter in January 2023. Prosecutors at that time added a “firearm enhancement” charge that
carried a mandatory fiveyear prison sentence. But New Mexico’s Legislature and governor did not enact the law until months after the shooting. The first two prosecutors resigned from the case a year ago.
Soon after Morrissey and Lewis took over the prosecution, they dropped the charges against Baldwin “after Baldwin’s counsel proved to them, accurately, that the gun was modified and that the State had overlooked dozens of legal issues and facts,” according to Wednesday’s motion by Baldwin’s team.
At the time, the prosecutors said they reserved the right to refile the charges.
After they dropped the charges, Baldwin traveled to Montana to resume the filming of “Rust.” Production of the movie wrapped last May. The film’s producers have been in talks with potential distributors in anticipation of the movie’s release.
Persistent questions about the gun’s condition at the time of the shooting are likely to be thorny for prosecutors.
Baldwin’s defense team has suggested the prop gun was faulty and may have malfunctioned, leading to its discharge — a theory that is expected to be a centerpiece of the actor’s defense should the case go to trial. His lawyers have pointed to the failure of the weapon during testing to support Baldwin’s recollection of his role in the tragic shooting.
However, ballistics experts
— including one who testified for the prosecutors during Baldwin’s grand jury proceeding — have cast doubt on Baldwin’s claims.
An FBI forensic examiner who testified in Gutierrez’s trial said the gun — an Italian-made Pietta pistol, a replica of a vintage 1873 model — was operational when he received it a few months after the shooting. That analyst, Bryce Ziegler, said he performed a rigorous set of tests, including striking Baldwin’s prop gun several times with a “rawhide mallet” to determine whether bumping or jostling the weapon would result in a discharge. He said he was trying to simulate scenarios for the gun to go off without the handler pulling the trigger.
The gun broke during testing.
Morrissey hired a respected Arizona gun expert, Lucien Haag, to review the evidence in the case, including the damaged gun.
“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,” Haag wrote in his August 2023 report.
After receiving Haag’s report and the behind-thescenes video from the movie production, Morrissey and Lewis shifted gears, announcing last fall that they would take Baldwin’s case to the grand jury.