Baldwin and Gutierrez Reed each face two counts of involuntary manslaughter so that a jury can decide which specific count may be more appropriate, New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said.
If convicted, “they will only be sentenced to one count,” the prosecutor said.
In either case, a conviction is punishable by up to 18 months in jail and up to a $5,000 fine, prosecutors said.
But one count would involve a firearm enhancement, or added mandatory penalty, because a firearm was involved. In that case, the crime could be punishable by a mandatory five years in jail, prosecutors said.
Charges against Baldwin and Gutierrez Reed will be formally filed by the end of this month, Carmack-Altwies said. She will not be asking for the defendants to be arrested at that time, the prosecutor said.
Baldwin and his legal team feel “blindsided” by the announcement, Nikas said.
They were not given any indication Baldwin would face criminal charges and “learned of the charges in the media,” he added.
Carmack-Altwies told CNN her office was in “almost constant contact” with the opposing parties’ attorneys “for about the last six weeks.”
“They didn’t know exactly what was coming, but they were aware that we were contemplating charges and they were aware of what the contemplated charges were,” she said.
The district attorney said she believed “Rust” had a “really fast and loose set,” saying there was a lack of safety standards and “live rounds on set – they were mixed in with regular dummy rounds.”
“Nobody was checking those, or least they weren’t checking them consistently,” Carmack-Altwies said.
“And then they somehow got loaded into a gun, handed off to Alec Baldwin; he didn’t check it, he didn’t do any of the things that he was supposed to do to make sure that he was safe or that anyone around him was safe. And then he pointed the gun at Halyna Hutchins and he pulled the trigger.”
Baldwin was also a producer for “Rust” and therefore had additional responsibilities, the district attorney said.
