Despite the fact that Alec Baldwin’s criminal charges against him were dropped, the family of the Rust cinematographer who passed away on the set says they would still sue him.
On Thursday, manslaughter charges against Mr. Baldwin, who was in possession of the fake pistol that discharged the deadly bullet, were dropped in New Mexico.
The actor “cannot escape responsibility” for Ms. Hutchins’ passing, according to a lawyer for her sister and parents.
Her widower and son, 10, had already agreed to a deal with Mr. Baldwin.
On set at a ranch outside of Santa Fe in October 2021, Mr. Baldwin was practicing firing the gun when it went off, killing 42-year-old Hutchins of Ukrainian descent and injuring director Joel Souza.
Although an FBI investigation later found that the gun could not have been shot without the trigger being pressed, the actor insisted that he did not pull the trigger.
On May 3, he was scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary hearing. However, on Thursday, prosecutors announced they will drop their case against the Emmy Award winner when fresh information came to light that called for more research.
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the movie’s armorer, is still charged with two counts of unintentional homicide.Hutchins’ mother Olga Solovey, father Anatolii Androsovych, and sister Svetlana Zemko are being represented by Gloria Allred, who said on Friday that her clients “remain hopeful” despite the prosecutor’s decision to withdraw the criminal case.
The family attorney said in a statement that “Mr Baldwin may pretend that he is not accountable for pulling the trigger and ejecting a live bullet that ended Halyna’s life.”
In reality, he cannot avoid the fact that he had a significant part in a catastrophe that had real-world repercussions. He can flee to Montana and pretend that he is merely an actor in a wild west movie.
A script supervisor who was present during the shooting is also being represented by Mrs. Allred. Along with Mr. Baldwin, Ms. Gutierrez-Reed and other Rust creators are targets of the civil case.
This week in Montana, some 18 months after the last round of filming, Rust began again.
Joel Souza, the director, described the restart as “bittersweet” and committed to see the movie through “on Halyna’s behalf.”
Principal photography is anticipated to be finished by May, according to a lawyer for the movie, and no “working firearms” or ammunition are permitted on location.
How the fatal shooting at the Alec Baldwin movie set happened
Matthew Hutchins, the widower of Ms. Hutchins, and Mr. Baldwin came to an early agreement in October that made him an executive producer of the movie.
In order to preserve the privacy of Hutchins’ young son, a judge in a New Mexico court on Monday agreed to keep the specifics of that agreement confidential.
Lawyers representing Mr. Baldwin called Hutchin’s family’s move “misguided” and unlikely to hold up under legal examination in their attempt to have the case filed against them dismissed.
