cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/10928093
Grand jury in New Mexico charged the actor for a shooting on Rust set that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins
Actor Alec Baldwin is facing a new involuntary manslaughter charge over the 2021 fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of the movie Rust.
A Santa Fe, New Mexico, grand jury indicted Baldwin on Friday, months after prosecutors had dismissed the same criminal charge against him.
During an October 2021 rehearsal on the set of Rust, a western drama, Baldwin was pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins when it went off, fatally striking her and wounding Joel Souza, the film’s director.
Baldwin, a co-producer and star of the film, has said he did not pull the trigger, but pulled back the hammer of the gun before it fired.
Last April, special prosecutors dismissed the involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin, saying the firearm might have been modified prior to the shooting and malfunctioned and that forensic analysis was warranted. But in August, prosecutors said they were considering re-filing the charges after a new analysis of the weapon was completed.
That’s an unfair comparison.
If someone hands you a gun that by all accounts should not be able to fire a bullet that can injure or kill, in a highly controlled setting with a professional armorer, and that gun kills someone when you didn’t even pull the trigger you should not go to jail.
The gun was apparently modified and had real bullets, both of which were the fault of the armor (the mod was seemingly done by someone else but the armorer should have caught it). Sure, you can speak about blame over hiring an incompetent armorer on everyone involved on the production and certification side, but that’s a different matter and not what’s being discussed here.