Alec Baldwin Gets Reduced Charges In 'Rust' Shooting Case

On Monday, February, 20, the Santa Fe District Attorney's Office released a statement on the decision taken concerning Baldwin's manslaughter case. The statement read by the spokesperson, Heather Brewer, showed that the decision was made to avoid further "litigious distractions."

The statement read, "In order to avoid further litigious distractions by Mr. Baldwin and his attorneys, the District Attorney and the special prosecutor have removed the firearm enhancement to the involuntary manslaughter charges in the death of Halyna Hutchins on the Rust film set."

The statement concluded that the prosecutors were focused on securing justice. Although the firearms enhancement charge has been dropped, the It's Complicated actor still faces the involuntary manslaughter charge. However, the result of the recent court action shows that the star actor will be given a lesser jail term of 18 months. If the dropped charges were still intact, Baldwin would be looking at a mandatory five-year sentence.

Hannah Guitierrez-Reed, who was the former armorer on the set of Rust, also had the firearm enhancement charge against her dropped. Guiterrez-Reed and Baldwin were both charged with the death of Rust cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, on January 30, 2023. Baldwin is yet to be out of the woods despite the reduced charges because Hutchins' family filed another lawsuit against him.

Assistant director David Halls signed a plea agreement for negligent use of a deadly weapon. This was termed a petty misdemeanor charge. At the time, Baldwin's attorney, Luke Nikas addressed a statement to People, stating that the criminal charges against the Hollywood star "distorts Halyna Hutchins' tragic death and represents a terrible miscarriage of justice."

Nikas further defended his client by relaying that the 64-year-old had no reason to believe the gun was loaded with a live bullet on the movie set. The dad-of-seven was said to have been confident in the professionalism of the crew he worked with, and this assured him of safety.

Presently, the Rust cast and crew are getting ready to return on set toward spring. This comes one year and a few months after Hutchins passed away. It has been announced that the movie's director, Joel Souza, will be one of the original crew members returning on set. Souza was injured during the firearm incident. Hutchins' spouse, Matthew, with whom she shared a ten-year-old son, will be joining the crew as an executive producer.

Following this development, Matthew revealed that he had no interest in "attribution of blame," because he believed his beloved wife's painful death was a "terrible accident." He stated that he was grateful that the entertainment community have agreed to pay tribute to his wife's final work. Back in October 2022, Baldwin and other Rust producers settled a wrongful death lawsuit that Matthew filed.