According To Prosecutors, A New Gun Study Shows That Alec Baldwin Pulled The Trigger In The "Rust" Incident

In order to decide whether to re-file charges against the actor, prosecutors have received a second expert study of the handgun used to kill a cameraman on the set of a Western movie in New Mexico.

According to Baldwin, the gun inadvertently went off as he followed instructions to aim it at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was in the background of the camera during the practice. On October 21, 2021, at a movie ranch outside of Santa Fe, Baldwin claimed he pushed back the hammer but not the trigger, and the gun fired, mortally shooting Hutchins.

Baldwin faced an involuntary manslaughter allegation in April, but special prosecutors dropped it after learning that the pistol may have been altered prior to the shooting and malfunctioned. Along with other firearms and ammo from the “Rust” film set, which relocated its filming from New Mexico to Montana, they ordered a fresh investigation of the pistol.

After portions of the handgun were damaged during earlier testing by the FBI, the new gun study by ballistics and forensic testing specialists headquartered in Arizona and New Mexico relied on replacement parts to reassemble the gun shot by Baldwin. The latest report deduces that the trigger had to have been pushed or depressed by looking at the rifle and the markings it left on a spent cartridge.

The analysis, which was led by Lucien Haag of Forensic Science Services in Arizona, concludes that “Alec Baldwin repeatedly denies pulling the trigger, but 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.”

The information was revealed in a court document on Tuesday by Hannah Gutierrez-Reed’s attorney. Gutierrez-Reed was in charge of the firearms on the movie set. In this instance, Gutierrez-Reed has entered a not guilty plea to the charges of involuntary homicide and evidence tampering. December is when her trial is set to start.

In response to a request for comment on the firearms study sent via email on Tuesday, Baldwin’s defense lawyers did not immediately respond. Publicity staffers declined to respond.

In an email sent on Tuesday, the special prosecutor Kari Morrissey stated that a formal statement regarding whether or not to re-file any charges against Baldwin would be made soon, although she did not specify when.

Prosecutors granted themselves 60 days to reopen a case against Baldwin in a court document from early June, pending confirmation that the gun did not malfunction.

They claimed that the possibility of a gun failure “significantly affects causation with regard to Baldwin.”

Authorities have not yet revealed how exactly real ammo got into the set and into the film.Italian business that specializes in replicas from the 19th century produces a 45-caliber revolver.

Following a scathing account of safety lapses in violation of accepted industry protocols, including testimony that production managers took little or no action to address two misfires on set prior to the fatal shooting, the company Rust Movie Productions has paid a $100,000 fine to state workplace safety regulators.

The pistol could, as is typical with firearms of that kind, go off without pulling the trigger if force was applied to an uncocked hammer, such as by dropping the weapon, according to an FBI report from August on the agency’s investigation of the weapon.

The testers could only trigger the gun while it was completely cocked or struck it with a mallet while the hammer was down and resting on the cartridge to get it to fire. Eventually, while being tested, the pistol cracked.

In a court filing on Tuesday, Gutierrez-Reed’s counsel requested new trial protections to ensure that the movie armorer cannot be found guilty if another person’s negligence was the only substantial cause of death or otherwise significantly altered the course of events.

The defense’s request for unusual jury instructions was attacked by Morrissey as hasty and an attempt to garner public attention.

Defense lawyers stated they intended to offer proof that Gutierrez-Reed requested safety coordinator and assistant director David Halls to summon her back into rehearsal if Baldwin intended to use the gun. She claimed that hadn’t happened before to Hutchins’ shooting.

Halls was sentenced to six months of probation with a six-month suspension in March after entering a no contest plea to a conviction for improper handling of a handgun. In the inquiry into the incident that also injured director Joel Souza, he consented to assist.

Weapons supervisor for the film “Rust” enters a not-guilty plea to manslaughter

An attorney for Gutierrez-Reed, Jason Bowles, stated that the new examination of the firearm used to shoot Hutchins “supports the idea that there was no modification” made to the weapon before to the fatal shooting and that it continued to function as intended after damaged parts were replaced.

Images of the damaged, disassembled gun as it was delivered in July are included in the new firearms report, along with stills from a video of Baldwin practicing before the deadly shooting and what seems to be his finger resting on the pistol’s trigger.

The hammer was manually retracted to its fully rearward and cocked position, followed, at some point, by the pull or rearward depression of the trigger, according to the Haag report, which was based on an examination of the fired cartridge case and the operationally restored evidence revolver. The only other scenario that might possibly exist would be for the trigger to already be pushed or held rearward while the hammer was being retracted to its fully cocked position.

According To Prosecutors, A New Gun Study Shows That Alec Baldwin Pulled The Trigger In The “Rust” Incident

In order to decide whether to re-file charges against the actor, prosecutors have received a second expert study of the handgun used to kill a cameraman on the set of a Western movie in New Mexico.

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