Alec Baldwin is now starring on his own family reality show on TLC, which focuses heavily on the outcome of a case he was involved in last year. The actor was charged with involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins after a film prop gun discharged live ammunition on the set of Rust. The show now focuses on how the incident affected him.
What exactly was the case involving Alec Baldwin?
During filming for the movie Rust, Alec Baldwin was holding a film prop gun that shot at Halyna Hutchins, and resulted in her death in 2021. Baldwin was holding the gun when it went off but has said he didn’t pull the trigger, and pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter. The case hit headlines everywhere and became super controversial.
Armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed is currently serving an 18-month sentence for the shooting of Hutchins. Baldwin recently explained how, on his new reality show, he was diagnosed with PTSD following the shooting, which took place at the Bonanza Creek Ranch in Santa Fe, New Mexico, while he was working as an actor and producer.
The Hutchins family filed a wrongful death suit against Baldwin for his part in the fatal shooting. On October 5, 2022, Baldwin reached an undisclosed settlement with Hutchins’ family in their wrongful death lawsuit. In April 2023, lawyers for Baldwin announced that the criminal charges against him had been dropped by prosecutors.
What was the outcome of the involuntary manslaughter case?
In January 2024, a grand jury indicted Baldwin on an involuntary manslaughter charge. The indictment provides prosecutors with two options for pursuing this charge: one based on negligent use of a firearm, and the other for felony misconduct “with the total disregard or indifference for the safety of others,” but the involuntary manslaughter case is now over.
The case was dismissed months after it began, in July 2024. Alec broke down in tears over the result, which came after a last-minute hearing over how police and prosecutors treated a handful of bullets. It related to a retired law enforcement officer turning over a collection of live ammunition to the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office, some of which matched the bullets found on the Rust set.
This was a huge turn-around, because in January 2023, it was announced Baldwin would be charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter by the end of the month. The elevated second charge was dropped after lawyers argued he was being incorrectly charged with a version of law that was not passed until months after the shooting, meaning if he was found guilty, he would face a maximum of 18 months.
By October 25, 2024, Judge Sommer upheld her dismissal of the involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin. However, a new case is now happening, because in January 2025, it was reported Baldwin is suing the prosecutors for malicious prosecution and civil rights violations. Baldwin claims prosecutors were “blinded by their desire to convict [him] for all the wrong reasons”.
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