(CNN) — Actor and producer Alec Baldwin has been indicted in connection with the 2021 fatal shooting on the set of “Rust,” the Santa Fe district attorney’s office told CNN on Tuesday.
The charges against Baldwin and on-set gunsmith Hannah Gutierrez-Reed include two counts of manslaughter, the prosecutor’s office said. The lawyers for both defendants previously insisted that their respective clients are innocent.
This handout image courtesy of the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office, released on April 25, 2022 and part of the investigation files, shows the scene of the incident at Bonanza Creek Ranch in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office/AFP via Getty Images
District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies told CNN earlier this month that she would charge Baldwin and the film’s gunsmith with manslaughter, accusing them of failing to perform safety procedures that could have prevented the accident that resulted in her death. from cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
Hutchins was killed by a round of live ammunition fired from a prop gun held by Baldwin, who claims he did not pull the trigger on the gun.
Director Joel Souza was also shot.
Baldwin has maintained that he did not know that the gun he fired during a rehearsal contained a live bullet. In a statement to CNN on January 19, his lawyer called the prosecutors’ decision “a terrible judicial error.”
“This decision misrepresents the tragic death of Halyna Hutchins and represents a terrible miscarriage of justice. Mr. Baldwin had no reason to believe there was a live bullet in the gun, or anywhere on the film set, Baldwin’s attorney, Luke Nikas, said in his statement.
“He trusted the professionals he worked with, who assured him that the weapon did not have live bullets. We will fight these charges and we will win,” he added.
An attorney for Gutierrez Reed said he believes the jurors will find his client not guilty.
“We expected the charges, but they are absolutely wrong about Hannah; We expect a jury to find her not guilty and to ensure that she did not commit manslaughter,” attorney Jason Bowles said in a statement to CNN earlier this month when the indictment was first released. “She has been shocked by the tragedy, but she has not committed any crime.”
