Alec Baldwin is facing his own legal drama, as several Rust film crew members are taking him to court. The actor is trying to get a case against him dismissed with a motion to do so.
This comes after a fatal 2021 shooting on the set of the indie Western Rust which killed Halyna Hutchins, the cinematographer of the film, and injured the director Joel Souza. Baldwin was initially charged by the local District Attorney, but those charges were dropped in April. However, the court has yet to decide whether to refile criminal charges given new evidence that has come to light.
Now, Baldwin is trying to stop crew members Ross Addiego, Doran Curtin, and Reese Price from pressing a civil case against him. Attorneys of Baldwin and El Dorado Productions have filed a motion to dismiss the civil case, and are pending a motion to stay it until the Rust criminal trial is done and determined. Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer of the First Judicial District Court was set to have a hearing on the dismissing motion this Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the criminal trial of armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was pushed from the end of this year to February 21, 2022 for “scheduling issues” related to witnesses.
Baldwin has always maintained that he never pulled the trigger on the 1880s prop gun that killed Hutchins and injured Souza. The FBI, however, disagreed with this statement in its report from last year.
The actor had been facing up to 18 months behind bars and $5,000 in fines if he was found guilty. However, newly appointed prosecutors Kari Morrisey and Jason Lewis argued that this shouldn’t be the case due to concerns about the state of the firearm in question and potential modifications that may have occurred.
Now, a forensics report from Lucien Hyag and Michael Haag commissioned by the prosecutors has shed more light on the case, suggesting that the trigger had to be pulled or depressed to release the firearm’s hammer.
It remains to be seen if the prosecutors will choose to refile criminal charges against the actor for the incident, as they’ve said they “won’t be pressured by Ms. Gutierrez’s attorneys or anyone else” in making their decision.
The Rust production, which Baldwin is both producing and starring in, recently started filming again in Montana with Matthew Hutchins, husband to the late Halyna, added as an executive producer, as part of a settlement he had with Rust producers. The trial is set to last until March 6.
