‘Rust’ Prosecutors Drop Five-Year Gun Enhancement Against Alec Baldwin
variety.comGene Maddaus Senior Media Writer Prosecutors have dropped a five-year gun enhancement against Alec Baldwin and Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, after the defendants argued that the law did not apply at the time of the shooting on the set “Rust.” Baldwin, the film’s star, and Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer, now face a maximum sentence of only 18 months if convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
When the charges were filed on Jan. 31, prosecutors sought to apply a statute that imposes harsher penalties for gun crimes.
Under New Mexico law, if a gun is discharged in the course of a felony, defendants can face an extra five years in prison. But that law did not go into effect until May 2022, seven months after Hutchins was killed.
The gun enhancement that was in effect in October 2021 required that the defendant show “intent to intimidate or injure a person,” which did not apply to the accidental shooting of Hutchins. “In order to avoid further litigious distractions by Mr.
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