Alec Baldwin
A grand jury in New Mexico has charged Alec Baldwin with a fresh count of involuntary manslaughter over a fatal movie set shooting in October 2021.
Previous charges against the Emmy award-winning actor were dropped last April, just two weeks before a criminal trial against him was due to begin.
Local prosecutors have since shared ‘additional facts’ from forensic tests on the weapon used during the shooting. Attorneys for Mr. Baldwin told the BBC: “We look forward to our day in court.”
Mr. Baldwin, 65, was practicing firing a Colt .45 pistol before filming a scene for Rust, an upcoming Western film shot near Santa Fe, in October 2021. Unfortunately, the gun went off, fatally striking 42-year-old cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, and wounding director, Joel Souza.
The actor has maintained he did not pull the trigger and only drew back the hammer of the pistol. He has also argued that he is not guilty for Ms. Hutchins’ death because he did not know the weapon contained live rounds, and because no live ammunition was supposed to be on set.
But special prosecutors in New Mexico said in October that they had commissioned forensic experts to reconstruct the weapon after it had been broken during FBI testing.
They said doing so revealed that the incident could only have taken place if the trigger had been pulled.
“Although Alec Baldwin repeatedly denies pulling the trigger, 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,” their report concluded.
The new evidence was brought to a grand jury of 12, beginning on Thursday, with a requirement for at least eight to agree on probable cause for new charges.
-BBC