Alec Baldwin pleads not guilty to involuntary manslaughter in 'Rust' shooting case

Alec Baldwin pleaded not guilty on Thursday to involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of the film Rust in New Mexico.

Baldwin has long denied any responsibility for the tragedy in October 2021, when a gun he was rehearsing with discharged, killing the cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins. In the weeks since the Santa Fe County district attorney announced plans to charge him with involuntary manslaughter, lawyers for the actor have fought the prosecution, asking for the case’s special prosecutor to be disqualified and successfully arguing that one of the charges against him should be downgraded.

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the movie’s armorer, who was in charge of guns and ammunition on set, has also been charged with involuntary manslaughter. A lawyer representing her, Jason Bowles, said she planned to plead not guilty at a virtual hearing scheduled for Friday. Baldwin asked for the court to waive his appearance at the hearing, but he entered his plea early in a court filing.

Baldwin, 64, and Gutierrez-Reed, 25, were each charged with two counts in the alternative, meaning that if they are convicted, a jury would decide which definition of involuntary manslaughter applies.

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Prosecutors had initially applied a state law called a firearm enhancement, which carries a minimum prison sentence of five years. But after lawyers for both defendants asserted in court that the district attorney had charged them under a version of the law that did not exist at the time of the fatal shooting, prosecutors withdrew their use of the enhancement. Now the longest sentence the defendants could face is 18 months.

The shooting occurred while the production was setting up for a tight shot of Baldwin’s character drawing a revolver before a gunfight; the weapon discharged a live round, killing Hutchins and injuring the movie’s director, Joel Souza. Baldwin has said he was told that the gun was “cold,” meaning it did not contain any live rounds and was safe to hold, and noted that Hutchins had been directing him on where to point the weapon.

But prosecutors say Baldwin is partly to blame for the death, arguing in court papers that he flouted film safety standards on set, including by failing to receive sufficient firearms training and putting a finger on the trigger. Baldwin has said he did not pull the trigger before the gun went off, while prosecutors said an FBI analysis had concluded that the trigger had to have been pulled.

Baldwin is facing several lawsuits over the episode. One of the plaintiffs, Hutchins’ widower, has agreed to settle and has been named an executive producer on “Rust,” which is scheduled to continue filming in Montana this spring.