Santa Fe Officials May Have Spent Over $900K Trying To Get Alec Baldwin Behind Bars For 'Rust' Shooting

In October 2021, Alec Baldwin shot and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins when a gun that he was holding on the set of the Western film "Rust" went off.

He was charged with involuntary manslaughter in January 2023, but those charges were removed in April 2023 pending further investigation into the gun used in the shooting, which may have malfunctioned. After an FBI forensics report concluded that the trigger had to be pulled for the gun to fire, charges were refiled in January 2024 and the trial started in July 2024.

However, that trial lasted only three days after a witness testified that the prosecution had worked with law enforcement officials to put evidence turned over after armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed's trial under a separate case number. The judge determined it was a violation of the Brady rule and dismissed the charges against Baldwin with prejudice, meaning he is no longer facing the threat of jail time for his role in Hutchins' death.

In response to a request submitted by The New Mexican on December 2, Santa Fe officials finally revealed on January 16 that the First Judicial District Attorney’s Office spent about $898,000 prosecuting cases related to the "Rust" shooting in October 2021.

However, it is unclear if that number was the final total and the District Attorney's Office did not respond to a request for comment from The Blast.

It has been difficult to ascertain the true cost of the trials. Public records show that District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies obtained more than $600,000 in state funding to prosecute both armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed and Alec Baldwin for their roles in Hutchins' death.

In a response from The New Mexican in June 2024, Nathan Lederman, who was the spokesperson for the District Attorney's Office at the time, said that almost $760,000 had been "paid out as of July 1" to prosecute both Hannah Gutierrez-Reed and Alec Baldwin. However, Baldwin's trial did not start until later that month and does not include the work that special prosecutor Kari T. Morrissey or former special prosecutor Erlinda Ocampo Johnson did on his trial.

Morrissey, specifically, continued to pursue Baldwin even after the trial was over. She filed an appeal, trying to get the judge to change her mind and pursue charges against Baldwin once more. One filing had to be resubmitted because the judge determined it was too long. However, Morrissey dropped her appeal just before Christmas, ending the chance that Baldwin would face prison time.

According to a spreadsheet from the District Attorney's Office, the total budget of the "Rust" prosecution was $898,260. This includes invoices submitted by Morrissey in both November 2024 and January 2025. However, The New Mexican obtained partial invoices from work that Morrissey did in September and October, including motions where the prosecutor asked the judge repeatedly to reconsider opening the case against Baldwin.

According to their estimations, the true total of the "Rust" prosecution exceeds $911,000, although this number has not been confirmed by the District Attorney's Office. A letter from Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Padgett Macias indicates that some records would not be made public because they contain "work product," which means the public may never be informed of the true cost of Santa Fe officials' attempts to prosecute Hannah Gutierrez-Reed and Alec Baldwin.

In addition to paying the prosecutors for their work, the District Attorney's Office also spent that money doing testing on the gun that was used in the "Rust" shooting. In fact, officials actually flew Italian gun manufacturer Alessandro Pietta to New Mexico in order for him to testify that the gun was in good working condition when it left his factory.

The New Mexican had asked for a separate invoice to see how much the State spent on his lodging, travel, and appearance costs, but a records custodian for the District Attorney’s Office claimed that they had no records for that request.

One of the biggest questions from the trial was how live ammunition ended up on the set of a Western film. Although they spent around $900,000 investigating the case, Santa Fe officials do not have an answer to that question. However, the police report obtained by The Blast shows that the independent Western film spent thousands on ammunition.

The police report contains receipts from PDQ Arm & Prop, LLC. In Albuquerque, New Mexico. One invoice contains listings for holsters, which amounted to $3,465.00 after a significant discount. Another invoice for dummy rounds and blank ammunition resulted in $5,919.64.

A separate $30.21 rental form for prop dummy rounds proceeded a whopping $12,881.73 invoice that was for gun bags, engraved rifles, and more ammunition. The date of this invoice was October 17, 2021, only a few days before Halyna Hutchins passed away at UNM Hospital on October 21 at the age of 42, leaving behind a husband, Matthew Hutchins, and a young son.