By Brad Brooks
(Reuters) – A criminal case against actor Alec Baldwin in New Mexico stemming from a fatal shooting on the set of his 2021 film “Rust” ended on Monday when a prosecutor dropped her appeal against the dismissal of the case.
According to a statement from the district attorney’s office obtained by Frist Judicial, special prosecutor Kari Morrissey withdrew that appeal.
Baldwin’s lawyers Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro said in a statement: “Today’s decision to dismiss the appeal is the final confirmation of what Alec Baldwin and his lawyers have said from the beginning – this was an unspeakable tragedy, but Alec Baldwin has none crimes committed.”
A New Mexico judge in July dismissed involuntary manslaughter charges against Baldwin, agreeing with the actor’s lawyers that Morrissey and the sheriff’s office concealed evidence about the source of the live ammunition used by “Rust” camerawoman Halyna Hutchins was killed in 2021.
The district attorney’s office said it still disagrees with the judge’s decision to drop the case against Baldwin.
However, the decision to withdraw the appeal of that decision was made after the attorney general’s office told Morrissey that it “does not intend to pursue the appeal exhaustively on behalf of the prosecution,” the statement said.
Hutchins died when Baldwin pointed a gun at her as they prepared a camera shot on a film set near Santa Fe. The gun fired a live cartridge, which was accidentally loaded by the film’s chief gun handler, Hannah Gutierrez. Gutierrez was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in March and sentenced a month later.
The “30 Rock” actor denied ever pulling the trigger and said he was instructed to point the trigger at the camera. But the FBI and an independent firearms expert determined that the gun would not fire without the trigger pulled.
According to historian Alan Rode, Hutchins’ death was the first fatal on-set shooting involving a live cartridge being mistaken for a dummy or empty cartridge since Hollywood’s silent film era.
Hollywood on-set shootings have been resolved through civil lawsuits in the past, such as the most recent death in 1993, when Brandon Lee was killed during filming of “The Crow” when an empty cartridge released a bullet from the barrel of a revolver.
