KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty
Legal experts say prosecutors will face an uphill battle in securing a conviction against actor Alec Baldwin, who will be charged with involuntary manslaughter for a tragic on-set shooting that left a young cinematographer dead.
“This is a very aggressive prosecution,” former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told The Daily Beast. “This is overcharging, in my opinion.”
On Thursday, the Santa Fe district attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies announced her office planned to file charges against Baldwin and 25-year-old armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed for the Oct. 2021 fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, 42, on the set of indie western Rust. Baldwin insisted that he didn’t know the Colt revolver was loaded when it accidentally went off as he pointed it at Hutchins. The incident also wounded the film’s 49-year-old director, Joel Souza.