Criminal charges may be on the way for actor Alec Baldwin, according to a report published Monday by entertainment website TMZ.
The report detailed several recent moves made by District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies that indicate she could be planning to prosecute the actor in connection with the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of his film “Rust.”
According to The Santa Fe New Mexican, Carmack-Altwies filed an emergency request last week — asking the New Mexico Board of Finance for $635,000 to support “up to four possible criminal cases” that she indicated could arise out of the ongoing investigation into the shooting.
The state board approved half the requested amount, granting her $317,000 to assist in funding a special prosecutor, special investigator, experts and others. The prosecutor said that up to four people could face charges — although she also noted that they might not all be found criminally liable. “We will be requesting a special appropriation for the rest of the money,” she added.
“One of the possible defendants is well known movie actor Alec Baldwin,” Carmack-Altwies said. She did not name any other members of the cast or crew who may still be under investigation, but she did list a number of possible charges, saying that her office was “certainly looking at all the homicide statutes and any gun statutes under New Mexico criminal code.”
Carmack-Altwies stated that the requested funds would be used to finance up to four separate jury trials pursuant to the shooting that killed Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza.
A full report from the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office — based on the lengthy investigation — is expected to be released in the coming weeks.
The prosecutor did not say for certain that she intended to file criminal charges but wanted the funding in place before the report’s release in the event that prosecutions were deemed warranted.
“Experts in firearms, the handling of firearms on movie sets, and safety protocols on move sets must be retained immediately,” Carmack-Altwies explained in the request. “If the First Judicial District Attorney … were to take funding for the ‘RUST’ prosecution out of the general fund, there would not be enough funding to pay our employees, expert witnesses needed for other cases and general everyday expenses of the office.”
Story cited here.
