By Andrew Hay
(Reuters) -New Mexico prosecutors on Tuesday mentioned they supposed to recharge actor Alec Baldwin with involuntary manslaughter for the deadly taking pictures of “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in 2021, .
Baldwin’s case can be introduced earlier than a grand jury, particular prosecutor Kari Morrissey mentioned.
The transfer adopted outcomes of an impartial forensic take a look at that mentioned Baldwin needed to have pulled the set off of a revolver he was rehearsing with for it to fireplace the stay spherical that killed Hutchins.
The discovering was the identical as a earlier FBI take a look at on the firearm.
“After in depth investigation over the previous a number of months, further details have come to gentle that we consider present Mr. Baldwin has legal culpability within the loss of life of Halyna Hutchins and the taking pictures of Joel Souza,” Morrissey and Jason Lewis mentioned in an announcement. “We consider the suitable plan of action is to allow a panel of New Mexico residents to find out from right here whether or not Mr. Baldwin must be held over for legal trial.”
Baldwin has mentioned he isn’t answerable for Hutchins’ loss of life and he didn’t pull the set off.
“It’s unlucky {that a} horrible tragedy has been changed into this misguided prosecution. We are going to reply any costs in court docket,” Luke Nikas, an lawyer for Baldwin, mentioned in an announcement.
The “30 Rock” actor was initially charged with involuntary manslaughter in January for Hutchins’ loss of life, together with the film’s chief weapons handler Hannah Gutierrez, who faces a 2024 trial.
Prosecutors dismissed the fees in opposition to Baldwin in April after new proof emerged that the gun he used might have been modified, permitting it to fireplace with out the set off being pulled.
Morrissey mentioned on the time that if new testing of the gun confirmed it was working, she would recharge Baldwin.
Prosecutors usually use grand juries as they’re a better means to show possible trigger and proceed to trial than submitting a legal grievance that may be probed by protection attorneys at a preliminary listening to, authorized specialists say.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington and Andrew Hay in Taos, New Mexio; Modifying by Donna Bryson, Lisa Shumaker and Jonathan Oatis)
