Prosecutors have officially dropped Baldwin’s criminal charges for Halyna Hutchins’ accidental death. Her family will continue their lawsuit against Baldwin for his alleged negligence despite the actor’s lawyers insistence on dropping it.
Baldwin had previously been charged alongside armorer Hannah Guttierez-Reed for involuntary manslaughter on the set of Rust due to a prop gun that allegedly misfired and hit both cinematographer Hutchins and director Joel Souza, killing Hutchins and seriously wounding Souza.
Special prosecutors Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis filed the paperwork on Friday, which detailed their reasons for dropping their charges against the actor. According to a statement released by the two, there is too much new information coming in from new investigations that make it nigh impossible to properly carry out a proper trial. As of right now, the case “is dismissed without prejudice, and the investigation is active and ongoing.”
A new forensic analysis was allegedly overlooked by law enforcement and Santa Fe DA Mary Carmack-Altwies’ office that supposedly indicates that the gun was allegedly modified while on the shoot. This modification could have caused the gun to misfire without Baldwin pulling the trigger. In the past, Baldwin had pleaded not guilty and claimed that he did not pull the trigger, which had previously been ignored.
While Baldwin’s charges are dropped for now, Morrissey and Lewis will reopen the case and press these charges if anything else comes up. “This decision does not absolve Mr. Baldwin of criminal culpability, and charges may be refiled,” they state.
However, Gutierrez is still expected to make her court appearance as the charges against her remain. After a virtual hearing before Judge Mary Marlowe Summer, the special prosecutors determined Gutierrez’s preliminary hearing will be held on August 7 to determine if her case will proceed to a full trial.
Concurrently, the Hutchins family refuses to back down from their lawsuit against Baldwin and demands that he face responsibility for his actions. While Hutchins’ widower received compensation, the rest of her family will still pursue the lawsuit with lawyer Gloria Allred.
“He can run to Montana and pretend that he is just an actor in a wild west movie but, in real life, he cannot escape from the fact that he had a major role in a tragedy which had real-life consequences,” Allred proclaims.
Leave a Comment