Hollywood star and "Rust" actor Alec Baldwin pleads not guilty to involuntary manslaughter charges in connection to the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
The victim was shot dead on the set of the movie, which is a forthcoming Western filmed near Santa Fe in New Mexico in October 2021. The 65-year-old defendant had been practicing firing a pistol for a scene in the film.
Similar charges against Baldwin were dropped in April last year, only two weeks before he was scheduled to go on trial. However, New Mexico prosecutors said that there is new forensic evidence to implicate the Hollywood star.
In a court filing on Wednesday, the actor entered the not guilty plea, which comes a day before a scheduled virtual court appearance in a Santa Fe court. That particular hearing will no longer take place.
Baldwin was charged on Jan. 19, in New Mexico after prosecutors said that "additional facts" had emerged from forensic tests on the weapon that was used in the shooting. At the time of the incident, the movie's director, Joel Souza, was also wounded, as per BBC.
The actor maintained that he was innocent because he said that he did not pull the trigger of the Colt .45 pistol and only drew back its hammer. Baldwin also claimed that he was not at fault for Hutchins' death because he was not aware that the weapon he was holding contained live rounds and that no live ammunition was supposed to be on the set of the movie.
However, prosecutors in New Mexico argued in October last year that they had commissioned forensic experts to reconstruct the weapon after it was broken during testing with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
They said that doing so revealed that the incident could only have taken place if the trigger of the gun had been pulled. Their report concluded that while Baldwin repeatedly maintained that he did not pull the weapon's trigger, the tests, findings, and observations showed otherwise.
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Involuntary Manslaughter Charges
In recent court filings, Baldwin, who has expressed "shock and sadness" at Hutchins' death, said that he had struggled to find acting work since the incident. After prosecutors dropped the involuntary manslaughter charges back in April, they warned that they could refile them as investigations continued.
The indictment against Baldwin on charges of involuntary manslaughter prompted a response from his attorneys, Luke Nilas and Alex Spiro of Quinn Emanuel. They said that they are looking forward to their day in court, according to ABC News.
Other than Baldwin, the movie's armor, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, was also charged with involuntary manslaughter over Hutchins' death. According to a conditional release order, the actor is not allowed to consume alcohol and cannot leave the United States without written permission from the court.
Furthermore, he is only allowed to have contact with potential witnesses as it pertains to "business matters" to do with the Rust movie. On the other hand, the involuntary manslaughter charges against Gutierrez-Reed were not dropped. Last June, prosecutors also brought an additional count of felony fourth-degree tampering with evidence against her, said CBS News.
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