Alec Baldwin has responded to the new involuntary manslaughter charge against him over the death of a producer on the film set of Rust – demanding a “speedy trial”.
The court documents were filed in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Wednesday in response to his indictment over the death of Halyna Hutchins, who died after a prop gun held by Baldwin went off on set in October 2021.
“Mr Baldwin is entitled to a fair and speedy disposition of the charges to minimise public vilification and suspicion and to avoid the hazards of proving his innocence that often arise after lengthy delays in prosecution,” the court papers said.
He has also demanded the New Mexico District Attorney “preserve all evidence” related to the case, and produce a written list “of all witnesses which the prosecutor intends to call at the trial”.
Baldwin was charged for the second time on Friday over the fatal shooting of the 42-year-old cinematographer.
Halyna Hutchins. Pic: Swen Studios/Reuters
All criminal charges were dropped in April last year based on evidence that the hammer – the part of a revolver that gets pulled back to build momentum before firing – might have been modified, allowing it to be shot without the trigger being pulled.
Authorities later began considering whether to refile a charge in light of new analysis that relied on replacement parts to reassemble the pistol after it was broken during FBI testing.
The 65-year-old Hollywood actor has insisted he pulled back the hammer but didn’t pull the trigger.
However, new expert examination cast doubt on the actor’s account.
New forensic tests concluded he would have had to have pulled the trigger to fire the live round.
The new report stated: “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.”
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The movie set’s weapons supervisor, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter and evidence tampering in the case, with her trial scheduled to begin in February.
Filming resumed last year in Montana – with Baldwin reprising his role as the main character – after an agreement with the cinematographer’s widower Matthew Hutchins made him an executive producer.