Alec Baldwin’s ‘Rust’ Arraignment Will Be Live Streamed On February 1

Actor Alec Baldwin is again facing criminal charges related to the death of “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was shot and killed on the set of the Western film in October 2021. Director Joel Souza was standing behind Hutchins when the gun was fired and was hospitalized as a result of the incident.

Both the “30 Rock” actor and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed were charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter last January. In April 2023, charges against Baldwin were dropped pending further investigation. However, Gutierrez-Reed was charged with tampering with evidence after an unidentified witness told prosecutors that she transferred narcotics to another individual on the day that Hutchins was killed, thus impeding the police investigation. Her trial has been scheduled for February 2024.

On January 30, The Blast was informed that news outlets have been given the authorization to record, broadcast, and livestream Alec Baldwin’s arraignment in New Mexico on Thursday.

Although the First Judicial District Court will conduct the arraignment virtually, the “30 Rock” actor is expected to make an appearance. The arraignment will be live streamed to the New Mexico Courts YouTube channel which can be accessed here. The hearing will take place on Thursday, February 1, at 11 AM local time.

“We look forward to our day in court,” was the first statement given by Baldwin’s lawyers, Alex Spiro and Luke Nikas of Quinn Emanuel, after special prosecutors Kari T. Morrissey and Jason J. Lewis refiled charges of involuntary manslaughter against the actor. Baldwin could face up to 18 months in prison if convicted.

According to the latest filing on January 19, 2024, prosecutors claimed that Baldwin “did cause the death of Halyna Hutchins by an act committed with the total disregard or indifference for the safety of others, and the act was such that an ordinary person would anticipate that death might occur under the circumstances.”

Gloria Allred, the attorney representing Halyna Hutchins’ mother, father, and lawsuit in a civil lawsuit, released a statement shortly following the charges, saying:

"Our clients have always sought the truth about what happened on the day that Halyna Hutchins was tragically shot and killed on October 21, 2021. They continue to seek the truth in our civil lawsuit for them and they also would like there to be accountability in the criminal justice system. The grand jury has decided that there is sufficient evidence to indict Alec Baldwin on the charge of involuntary manslaughter.  We are looking forward to the criminal trial which will determine if he should be convicted for the untimely death of Halyna, who was the daughter of our clients Olga Solovey and Anatolii Androsovych, the sister of Svetlana Zemko, and the co-worker-of-our-client-, Mamie Mitchell."

Gloria Allred is also representing “Rust” script supervisor Mamie Mitchell in a separate lawsuit.

According to a statement of probable cause filed in the First Judicial Court in New Mexico, Alec Baldwin didn’t receive required firearms training and did not ask Gutierrez-Reed to show him how to tell if the gun contained live rounds or not.

The complaint goes on to say that Baldwin ignored safety concerns from crew members and put his finger “on the trigger of a real firearm when a replica or rubber gun should have been used.”

In April 2023, special prosecutors said that they decided to drop charges against Baldwin because of the possibility that the gun malfunctioned. “The charges against Alec Baldwin were dismissed without prejudice because a possible malfunction of the gun significantly effects causation with regard to Baldwin, not with regard to Gutierrez. If it is determined that the gun did not malfunction, charges against Mr. Baldwin will proceed,” they wrote in a statement at the time.

However, in August 2023, a forensic report obtained by People magazine concluded that the trigger of the gun had been pulled “sufficiently” enough to fire.

“Although Alec Baldwin repeatedly denies pulling the trigger, given the tests, findings, and observations reported here, the trigger had to be pulled or depressed sufficiently to release the fully cocked or retracted hammer of the evidence revolver,” read the firearms report by experts Lucien Haag and Mike Haag.

“This fatal incident was the consequence of the hammer being manually retracted to its fully rearward and cocked position followed, at some point, by the pull or rearward depression of the trigger,” they continued.

However, according to The New York Times, "in order to conduct the testing, Mr. Haag had to replace parts of the gun, which had been damaged by the F.B.I. during its own analysis."