Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - HEAR IT: HOLLYWOOD STAR Alex Baldwin's incendiary manslaughter charging documents

Episode Date: February 1, 2023

"Rust" star and producer Alex Baldwin been charged with involuntary manslaughter, alongside the armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, in the 2021 death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.   Hutchins died when a bullet discharged from the gun being used during a scene rehearsal.  Baldwin was pointing the gun at the camera. Hutchins was seated just behind the camera.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Page one. Alec Baldwin probable cause statement. State of New Mexico, County of Santa Fe. First Judicial District Court. State of New Mexico Plaintiff v. Alexander Ray Baldwin III, Defendant. Statement of Probable Cause.

Background Synopsis. On October 21, 2021, in the County of Santa Fe, State of New Mexico, a shooting involving a handgun-revolver firearm occurred that resulted in the death of Santa Fe, state of New Mexico, a shooting involving a handgun revolver firearm occurred that resulted in the death of Helena Hutchins and the serious injury of Joel Souza. The shooting involved a.45 caliber revolver and occurred on a western movie set located in rural Santa Fe County, referred to and known as Bonanza Creek Ranch, 15 County Road 45, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 875508, 545 Bonanza Creek Ranch Road. On this date, being filmed and or rehearsed at this location was a film at the time named, referred to as Rust.

Through interview statements and evidence, it was learned that defendant Alexander Alec Baldwin, here and after Baldwin, was the lead actor in the film. Through these statements, interviews, and evidence, it was determined that after lunch on October 21, 2021, the crew, production staff, camera crew, and actors were preparing for a scene set in the church. This was not an established rehearsal, nor had filming commenced. At this point, Baldwin was seated in what is referred to and appears to be a church on this movie set. Baldwin was in possession of a.45 long Colt caliber revolver type firearm,

one of a type and kind often used and or seen in or on western genre type movies and or sets. The firearm is a single action revolver handgun, which requires the cocking of the exposed hammer, which then rotates the cylinder, and then the pressing of the trigger is required to fire the weapon. In front of Baldwin, standing, were victims Helena Hutchins and Joel Souza. Hutchins and Souza were viewing and moving a camera for a possible setup for a later scene to occur at a later undetermined date and or time. Through these same statements, interviews, and physical evidence, it was learned that Helena Hutchins was the director of photography for the film and Joel Sousa was the director writer for the film. Information and evidence obtained showed that Baldwin was seated in a pew facing in a northerly

direction towards the front of the church. In front of him was helena hutchins and page two joel souza and a camera operator along with other crew i.e sound script costume etc baldwin was wearing a shoulder holster right hand draw which was securing holding the 45 long colt caliber single actionaction six-shot revolver. Baldwin was practicing drawing and pointing the weapon for the scene with guidance and instruction from Helena Hutchins and Joel Souza. The setup was to be a close-up on Baldwin and the firearm as he drew the weapon and pointed it.

Helena Hutchins and Joel Souza were viewing the practice scene on a monitor attached to the camera. Baldwin drew the revolver from the holster, pointed it at Helena Hutchins, and fired the weapon. When reviewing the script and witness interviews for this particular scene and close-up shot, evidence indicates the scene shot did not require the weapon to be fired. It was also determined by consultation with expert armorers that in a rehearsal, a plastic gun or replica gun should be used as no firing of blanks is required. However, Baldwin fired the single-action.45 long Colt revolver,

resulting in the discharge of a projectile that struck and traveled through the right armpit area of Helena Hutchins, exited her back from the OMI's official report, then struck Joel Sousa in the right shoulder and lodged into his right back. At approximately 1.48 p.m., the shooting was reported to Santa Fe County Regional Emergency Communication Center via 911. This resulted in the response of fire emergency medical and Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office personnel. This further resulted in a case number, CAD incident number,

being generated 2021-007949. The Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office conducted an investigation into the shooting under this case number as a, quote, death investigation, unquote. Detective Alexandra Hancock was assigned as the primary investigator. The response of emergency personnel resulted in Joel Souza being transported by ambulance to St. Vincent Regional Medical Center located at 455 St. Michael's Drive within the city limits of Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Helena Hutchins was transported from the scene by air ambulance helicopter to the Level 1 Trauma Center at the University of New Mexico Hospital located in bernalillo county albuquerque new mexico helena hutchins was pronounced deceased at approximately 3 37 p.m by attending medical personnel joel souza was treated and released but not before a projectile was removed from his back the projectile appeared to be a lead projectile of the type and kind found in, quote, live, unquote, ammunition. This item was secured and turned over to the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office. As noted above and confirmed by the evidence and analysis, the recovered projectile first struck and then passed entirely through Helena Hutchins and then struck Joel Sousa.

There was no evidence that the bullet ricocheted, struck any object or person before striking Helena Hutchins. The projectile then penetrated through the front of Joel Sousa's right shoulder and became lodged under the skin on his back. The Office of the Medical Examiner, State of New Mexico, listed Helena Hutchins' cause of death preliminarily as gunshot wound of the chest after conducting an autopsy on October 22, 2021. The following additional information and evidence is provided in further support

of probable cause of the enumerated crimes having been committed by Baldwin. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace Page 3 Firearm, ammunition, and Baldwin as actor and shooter Statements and evidence show Baldwin was not present for required firearms training prior to the commencement of filming. Statements, depositions from OSHA, and evidence show Baldwin was provided only minimal training on firearms, even after Reed requested more training for Baldwin.

In the deposition taken from Reed, she stated Baldwin had very limited training on the cross-draw that was required for the scene on the 21st and limited training in firearms and how to check his own firearm as to whether it was unloaded or loaded, in which Reed felt it was very important in his role as Rust. A training session for at least an hour or more in length was scheduled, but the actual training consisted of only approximately 30 minutes, as according to Reed, Baldwin was distracted and talking on his cell phone to his family during the training. Baldwin approached responding deputies on the day of the shooting, wanting to talk to them because he was the one who, quote, fired, unquote, the gun. He was referred

to and later interviewed by detectives. Baldwin later asserted that he never fired the revolver and that it had just quote gone off unquote. Baldwin made this assertion public as well in multiple media interviews conducted after the shooting. Many media interviews and law enforcement interviews were conducted by Baldwin and he displayed very inconsistent accounts of what happened during the incident when firing the gun that killed Hutchins. Photo and video evidence from inside the church on the day of the shooting show some of the rehearsal up to and including moments before the shooting.

The photo and videos depict the above-described actions of Baldwin prior to the shooting, practicing, drawing, and pointing the weapon. The photos and videos clearly show baldwin multiple times with his finger inside of the trigger guard and on the trigger while manipulating the hammer and while drawing pointing and holstering the revolver the revolver involved in the shooting was seized by detectives as evidence it was later submitted to the federal bureau of Investigation FBI crime lab for examination and analysis as part of that examination analysis the FBI conducted a

function malfunction check of the revolver this involved trying to get the weapon to fire without the trigger being depressed i.e striking the hammer at various multiple angles against a solid object and striking the hammer of the revolver with an actual hammer or mallet, the revolver did not malfunction, i.e. fire when it should not, accidentally. This analysis clearly showed that the weapon could not accidentally fire. For the weapon to fire, the trigger had to have been depressed, pressed. The analysis additionally included testing of and documentation of the sear engagement points of the hammer as it moved from the position of at rest all the way down against the frame in its lowest position

through each engagement of the single action hammer mechanism. The firearm possessed one quarter and one half-cock position safeties and were found to function as designed, i.e. keeping the hammer from striking a cartridge primer without pulling the trigger. Additionally, at half-cock, the cylinder was partially rotated, making it impossible for the hammer and attached firing pin to strike a primer. Page 4. The FBI additionally analyzed various types and kinds of ammunition seized from the scene, including the prop truck. This included dummy rounds, blank rounds, and suspected live ammunition. A total of five suspected live rounds,

one spent casing of a live round that was discharged causing the shooting, were seized by investigators. Evidence and statements indicate that aside from what Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, armorer, Rust Production may have brought to the set with her, all weapons and ammunition, blank, dummy, for the production were obtained from a supply company in Albuquerque, PDQ Arms and Prop LLC. Detectives investigated these facts, including service of a search warrant at the place of business of PDQ Arms and Prop in Albuquerque, who was the supplier of the dummies and blanks to Rust. Several suspected live rounds of 45 long Colt caliber cartridges were seized as a result, some supplied by the company owner to

the investigators and some found at the place of business. These rounds were submitted to the FBI for comparison with the suspected live rounds found at the shooting scene. The explosives chemistry examination of the rounds showed that the smokeless powder in the live rounds found at the scene did not match the live round seized from the props arm supplier in question this means the live rounds on rust did not match the rounds explosive chemistry taken from pdq arms and prop the fbi lab determined that the five suspected live rounds recovered at the scene of the shooting were indeed quote live unquote rounds each possessing an unfired primer powder and bullet as part of the cartridge these five rounds were found by detectives and crime scene technicians while processing the scene the five unfired rounds were found in the following

locations one from sfso lieutenant benvenides patrol vehicle that he had seized from Reed upon his arrival, two from the top of the armorer's cart, including the one spent live round casing, one from a bandolier on the cart, one from Baldwin's holster located inside the church, one from an ammunition box located on the armorer's cart. Along with the casings and fired projectile, there were a total of six 45 quote live unquote rounds

that were discovered in various locations on the Russ set. Evidence further shows that Baldwin, as an actor who has extensive experience in the film industry involving firearms, failed to demand at least two safety checks in between the armorer and himself and witnessing the handling of firearms by a first assistant director. Standard protocol is the armorer is to show the actor the firearm, pull the bullets out in front of the actor, and demonstrate there are no live rounds but dummies in the firearm. Baldwin knows this is standard safety protocol as he has mentioned it

in media interviews and in law enforcement interviews. Hannah Gutierrez Reed, here and after Reed, did not do this protocol in front of Baldwin. Baldwin did not object to this action. Reed discusses in her interviews with OSHA and law enforcement this shouldn't have occurred. Reed also acknowledges in her interviews she should have been in the church with the firearm at all times. Instead, she left the church while Baldwin was in possession of a firearm in close proximity to the cast and crew. Baldwin further acknowledges that it is standard protocol for armors to stay with the firearm at all times in the media and interviews. Finally, Baldwin directly pointed a firearm at Hutchins and Souza, whether guided by her directions or not. Baldwin knew the first rule of gun safety is never pointing a gun at page five, someone you don't intend on shooting in addition always assume a

gun is loaded had Baldwin performed the required safety checks with the armor read this tragedy would not have occurred in addition if Baldwin had not pointed the gun at Hutchins and Souza this tragedy would not have occurred this reckless deviation from known standards and practices and protocol directly caused the fatal shooting by not receiving the required training on firearms deviating from the required duties of checking the firearm with the armorer letting the armorer leave the church against protocol deviating from the practice of

only accepting the firearm from the armorer, not dealing with safety complaints on the set, not making sure the protocol of safety meetings was occurring, putting his finger on the trigger of a real gun, not using a replica firearm for the unscheduled rehearsal, pointing the gun at Hutchins and Sousa and the overall handling of the firearm in a negligent manner. Baldwin acted with willful disregard of the safety of others and in a manner which endangered other people, specifically Hutchins and Souza. Baldwin clearly should have known of the danger of his actions which led to the death of Hutchins. Baldwin as

producer. Industry standards, standards best practices common practices historical practices policies and or procedures and union guided policies and or procedures require and or mandate certain members of a filming crew have assume or are assigned certain obligations and responsibilities industry experts and or armorers were consulted for information and evidence in this industry. Baldwin asserted and is clearly shown to be a producer on this particular film. Based on his position, Baldwin, through acts and or omissions, contributed to or failed to mitigate or address multiple significant safety violations, issues, and or concerns that resulted in multiple noted instances of recklessness leading up to, contributing to, and causing the shooting.

Since the shooting, Baldwin has asserted publicly that he is an expert in the realm of firearms and filmmaking. Investigation has revealed that Baldwin has been involved in at least 40 films or TV productions that involve firearms, with Baldwin either directly handling firing a weapon or in a scene with firearms being directly handled and or fired by someone else. Further investigation of this list revealed a multitude of instances either from the movie itself or from the movie poster showing Baldwin with his finger in the trigger guard and on the trigger, in instances where, according to industry standards and common firearm safety standards, it should not have been. Experts, industry standards, and basic firearm safety protocols and training consider this reckless behavior requiring immediate remediation. Evidence shows Baldwin failed to appear for mandatory firearms training and firearm safety training prior to filming.

Evidence also shows that Baldwin requested and was afforded a training session on set and that through statements the training was estimated to be 30 minutes in length due to the distraction of him talking to his family on his cell phone during the training the onset and limited time of training does not comport to industry standards and evidence shows baldwin was in a position to manage oversee commence and require safety training to industry standards baldwin's failure to ensure minimum standards were met is considered reckless in the industry. Page six, basic firearm safety protocols and industry standards are provided during this training, which includes basic firearm safety rules and mindset, including,

but not limited to not touching, pressing the trigger until the shooter is ready to fire and is sure of his or her target treating all firearms as if they are loaded and not covering anything with the muzzle of a firearm the shooter is not willing to destroy the evidence clearly indicates that baldwin recklessly ignored those rules on multiple occasions resulting in the fatal shooting. Evidence shows that the production company hired Reed as the lead armorer for the production. Evidence shows that Reed possessed no certification or certifiable training or union card for this practice and that she admitted she was the armorer for only one film prior to this production, approximately in April of 2021.

As the producer of a firearm-intense film, evidence shows that Baldwin allowed, through Axarow missions, the hiring of an inexperienced and unqualified Reed for this production, failed to mitigate or establish more precautions to protect against Reed's inexperience, or failed to demand the minimum safety standards protocols and requirements on set Reed was assigned by production to be an assistant prop master in addition to her armorer duties evidence shows that this resulted in Reed not focusing her entire attention on her primary responsibility as armorer evidence shows Baldwin violated industry standards and

practices by allowing this reckless and generally prohibited practice resulting in reckless actions taking place prior to and on the day of the shooting evidence shows that sarah zachary was hired as the prop master for the production it also shows that she was assigned to assist reed with her armoring duties. Evidence and statements show that Sarah Zachary possessed little to no experience with firearms, firearm safety, armor duties, and responsibilities, etc. It also shows that Sarah Zachary was assigned to, allowed to, load and unload ammunition in firearms, handle firearms, and act as an armorer when on set with actors, doubles, taking possession of the firearms. Evidence shows this was done multiple times and without Reed being on the set as well. Evidence shows that despite the production team's awareness of the safety issues, Baldwin did not address this reckless process procedure that is contrary

to industry standards and safety protocols and commonly understood firearm safety procedures. Prior to the shooting incident, Sarah Zachary had a negligent discharge while handling a revolver intended to be used by an actor in the filming. This weapon was not Baldwin's weapon, but had similar same mechanical function and appearance, single action revolver, and was intended for use by the quote Marshall's unquote.

Statements show that Sarah Zachary was holding and manipulating the weapon while walking, and she discharged a blank cartridge into the ground next to her foot. Industry standards, practices, and protocol consider negligent discharges, reckless in nature that require immediate action and or swift mediation up to and including remedial training demotion removal from the set termination etc evidence shows baldwin failed to act to address this reckless situation or to direct reed to mitigate or address the situation. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Page 7.

Also, prior to the shooting incident, another negligent discharge was committed by a stunt double as he was handling, manipulating a lever action period rifle loaded when left unattended with the stunt performer while in a holding tent. Baldwin failed to act, the evidence shows, to address this reckless situation or to direct Reed to mitigate or address the negligent discharge. Through evidence and interviews, these reckless and serious safety violations were deemed negligent by the investigation as there was no indication or evidence that the firearms in question malfunctioned at any time. Rather, there is evidence the weapons fired because of mishandling or misuse by those handling the firearm,

i.e. pressing the trigger when it should not be. In his producer's position, the evidence indicates Baldwin also did not act to address the lack of daily safety meetings that are required to be conducted by the first assistant director. Evidence indicates that on or about the 13th day of filming, only three or four safety meetings were conducted by the assistant director. Practice and standards investigated indicate that a daily safety meeting should be conducted with the crew regardless of the scenes for the day's shoot. The lack of meetings and the lack of appropriate content of said meetings resulted in a climate of recklessness as evidenced by the conduct of the cast and crew documented through statements

and evidence. In addition, no safety meeting was conducted on the day of the incident. Safety meetings were supposed to be listed on the call sheet daily but were not. Meetings were called randomly throughout the day with no mandatory attendance required. The meetings were impromptu. These meetings should, pursuant to standard protocols, be conducted in the morning prior to the beginning of the day where all members of the cast and crew should be required to attend. On October 20, 2021, the original camera crew resigned, citing safety concerns, commute times and distances, pay and other issues. On October 21, 2021, a new crew was brought in to begin filming right away.

Evidence indicates that during the church scene in question, the director and director of photography should have been outside the church viewing the scene from a large monitor covered by a tent shade screen commonly referred to as a quote video village unquote. Statements indicate that Joel Souza and Helena Hutchins decided to be in the church with the camera crew due to the abrupt change of the camera crew. Evidence indicates that Baldwin failed to act to address any safety or continuity concerns with the new crew, causing a reckless situation to occur on the day of the shooting. On the day of the shooting, evidence and statements show that impromptu plans were made to

rehearse and then shoot a scene inside of the church, and for this particular scene, it was to only involve Baldwin. Evidence and statements show that the first assistant director, David Halls, here and after Halls, was present on the set. As with Baldwin, evidence, common standards, protocol, and statements show that Halls had the additional duty of safety coordinator by virtue of his position. However, that position does not afford the handling or manipulation of firearms. Evidence and statements also show that Halls, by virtue of his position, is the first point of contact for an armorer when they bring a firearm on the set and is the first person required to conduct a safety check with the armorer and

weapons industry standards and procedures require page eight that the armorer in the presence of the first assistant director show the weapon is clear and safe then if applicable show the firearm is loaded with blanks or dummy rounds visually and physically checking each round individually for safety by pulling each round out of the firearm and showing the first assistant director and the actor the first assistant director then a lot follows the cue of the armorer calling cold or hot weapon on set, then broadcasting that statement across the radio which notifies all cast and crew. Evidence clearly shows this did not occur on the day of the shooting, at least two times. Baldwin failed to address these reckless incidents and deviations

from industry standards and firearm safety rules directly contributing to the fatal shooting. Halls did not adequately check the firearm with Reed prior to handing it to Baldwin, who additionally did not check it with the armorer Reed. Halls is further required to announce to crew when a firearm will be fired in the scene, i.e. announce, quote, fire in the hole, unquote, or other common phrase to put the crew on notice for shooting, loud noise, hearing protection, etc. The evidence and statements show that this requirement did not meet safety and industry standards and further shows that Baldwin failed to address and or mitigate this reckless and dangerous practice.

Hall's, again, by virtue of his position and industry standards and practices, is prohibited and or strictly discouraged from handling any of the firearms on a set. As such, industry standards, policies, and practices call for the armorer to be on set and to stay on set any anytime a firearm is on set. This practice and standard were not conducted on the day of the shooting and was allowed by Baldwin. Prior to lunch, statements and evidence show that Halls requested Baldwin's firearm be prepped and brought to the set by the armorer Reed. Reed states that she loaded the firearm with dummy rounds prior to lunch, so she didn't perform a second safety check on her own or with Halls and the firearm,

just showing him the barrel and not removing the bullets to show the firearm was safe. And then, Halls took possession of the firearm from Reed. Reed departed the church. Halls provided Baldwin with the firearm so he could rehearse practice with the weapon. However, there are contradictory statements that Reed brought an empty gun to Halls and at some point loaded it with dummy rounds while in the church. Reed then showed Halls the firearm. Again, Reed did not do a proper safety check with Halls or Baldwin. Reed then left the church.

Reed leaving the set and Halls handling the firearm are considered very reckless actions according to industry standards, expectation, and common firearm safety protocols and considerations. There is no evidence or information that Baldwin addressed or acted to mitigate these reckless actions. In addition, for a rehearsal, a rubber or replica firearm should have been used. Only when the actual scene was to be filmed should the weapon have been loaded with dummy rounds. Baldwin, Halls, and Reed all knew this was standard protocol. Further evidence and statements show that when the crew took a break for lunch,

firearms, including Baldwin's, were secured in the prop truck safe. Outside of the church was a cart used by the armorer and prop master contrary to standard protocol that contained leather gear rigs like holsters belts and ammunition evidence clearly indicates this cart and associated items was not secured during the break and was not in visual range of reed or sarah zachary for safety and security the unsecured cart with the equipment ammunition and firearm is page 9. Considered very reckless by industry standards and by common firearm safety standards and protocol, evidence indicates that Baldwin failed to act to address

and or mitigate these serious and reckless safety violations. Upon returning from lunch, evidence and statements show that Reed retrieves baldwin's preferred revolver but reed does not perform another safety check additionally reed again is asked and complies with halls by handing him the firearm once inside the church there are also contradictory statements that reed brought in the firearm empty showed Halls, and ultimately later loaded it with dummy rounds. Regardless, the evidence is consistent that Reed failed to show Halls each dummy round and pull them out for safety, nor did Halls request it. Reed did not show Baldwin the loaded firearm either,

nor did he request to see the rounds, which is standard protocol. Reed left the church. Evidence and statements also indicated that an after-lunch safety check of the firearm to industry standards between Reed and Halls did not occur. This after-lunch sequence of events is documented to have had no less than four extremely reckless violations of industry standards, safety protocol, best practices, and common firearm safety protocols in a very short compressed period of time. On the day of the shooting alone, evidence shows that no less than a dozen acts or

omissions of recklessness occurred in the short time prior to lunch and the time of the shooting. This does not include the reckless handling of the firearm by Baldwin. Baldwin, by act or omission or failure to act in his position as a producer, directly contributed and or failed to mitigate numerous reckless and dangerous actions during a very short time period. Finally, industry standards, protocols, and common firearm safety procedures on movie sets require the armorer, after conducting a safety check with the first assistant director, to conduct a second safety check with the actor to be handling the firearm. This reckless violation of standards and firearm safety occurred two times leading up to the shooting, and Baldwin failed to act to mitigate or correct the reckless safety violations, neither in his capacity as actor nor producer.

This reckless deviation from known standards and practices and protocol directly caused the fatal shooting. Baldwin acted with reckless disregard and or more than mere negligence in this incident. Baldwin acted with willful disregard of the safety of others and in a manner that endangered other people and he clearly should have known the danger of his actions, which led to the death of Hutchins.

Furthermore, Baldwin handled the weapon in a negligent manner. Evidence exists to clearly show that on October 21, 2021, Helena Hutchins was killed when Baldwin fired a firearm that he pointed at her. The evidence and statements documented in this affidavit confirm many instances of extremely reckless acts or reckless failures to act by Baldwin in a 10-day period. Evidence clearly shows that none of the incidents or issues were addressed by Baldwin in his position as actor or producer

to mitigate future occurrences of recklessness, correct reckless behavior, or correct training deficiencies Baldwin's deviation from known standards practices and protocol directly caused the fatal death of Hutchins by not receiving the required training on firearms not checking the firearm with the armorer letting the armor leave the firearm with the armorer, letting the armorer leave the firearm in the church without being, page 10, present, deviating from the practice of only accepting the firearm from the armorer, not dealing with the safety complaints on set

and or making sure safety meetings were held, putting his finger on the trigger of a real firearm when a replica or a rubber gun should have been used, pointing the firearm at Hutchins and Souza and the overall handling of the firearm in a negligent manner. Baldwin acted with willful disregard for the safety of others and in a manner which endangered other people, specifically Hutchins and Souza. Baldwin clearly should have known the danger of his actions which led to the death of Hutchins. Probable. Baldwin clearly should have known the danger of his actions which led to the death of Hutchins. Probable cause exists that Baldwin committed involuntary manslaughter

contrary to and defined in NMSA 30-2-3 quote manslaughter unquote in the commission of a lawful act which might produce death in an unlawful manner or without due caution and circumspection or during the unlawful act not amounting to a felony to it negligent use of a deadly weapon robert shilling special investigator first judicial district attorney's office 327 sandoval street santa fe new mexico Santa Fe, New Mexico. This is an iHeart Podcast.