How the Shock Alec Baldwin Case Dismissal Impacts Other ‘Rust’ Main Players
Now that a New Mexico judge has dismissed Alec Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter case in the shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, the Rust saga moves to a new stage, albeit one that will still keep plenty of lawyers busy. Here’s what’s next for various players involved with the indie Western.
Alec Baldwin
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On July 12, New Mexico judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed the state’s case against Baldwin with prejudice, meaning prosecutors cannot re-file charges against the actor, who had faced up to 18 months in prison. Though this marks the end of Baldwin’s two-and-half-years of legal uncertainty opposite various New Mexico prosecutors, he’s still battling civil lawsuits, including an ongoing suit by Hutchins’ husband, Matthew Hutchins. The cinematographer’s family in Ukraine and some members of the Rust crew have also sued Baldwin and the other Rust producers. Baldwin’s attorneys have said that he has lost job opportunities since the shooting, but the 30 Rock star is still maintaining a public profile. He is participating in a documentary being directed by Rory Kennedy and a TLC series about his life with his wife, Hilaria, and their seven children scheduled to air in 2025.
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed
The Rust movie’s armorer is currently appealing her March 6 conviction on involuntary manslaughter charges, and serving out an 18-month prison sentence at the Western New Mexico Correctional Facility. Now that Baldwin’s lawyers have successfully made the case that Rust prosecutor Kari Morrissey withheld evidence from them, Gutierrez-Reed’s attorneys will try to capitalize on that revelation, attempting either to get Gutierrez-Reed’s charges and sentence dismissed entirely like Baldwin’s, or to get her out of prison on appeal.
Matthew Hutchins
Halyna Hutchins’ husband and the father of her 11-year-old son, Andros, Matthew Hutchins is expected to reopen his wrongful death lawsuit against Baldwin and the other Rust producers, as they have not been making the payments they agreed to in an October 2022 settlement. Hutchins has asked two documentary filmmakers who were friends of Halyna, Rachel Mason and Julee Metz, to make a film about his wife.
Joel Souza
The writer and director of Rust, Souza was injured by the same bullet that killed Hutchins, which lodged in his shoulder. Souza convened Rust‘s cast and crew to resume production in Montana in 2023, and completed post-production on the film in March of 2024. The writer-director has said little publicly about the shooting, beyond when he was called to testify in Gutierrez-Reed’s trial in March. He is awaiting distribution of the film.
Dave Halls
Rust’s first assistant director and the person who handed the lethal Colt .45 revolver to Baldwin, Halls was sentenced to six months unsupervised probation after pleading no contest to negligent use of a deadly weapon. He has retired from the film industry.
Seth Kenney
In their motion to get the case against Baldwin dismissed, Baldwin’s attorneys said that the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office and prosecutors had concealed from Baldwin evidence that the live round that killed Hutchins came from Kenney, of Albuquerque-based PDQ Arm and Prop, the prop firearms supplier for Rust. Kenney has denied having any role in the live ammunition that reached the Rust set, and he has not been charged with any wrongdoing. PDQ was named in multiple civil suits that have been brought against the Rust production, including ones brought by Matthew Hutchins, Halyna Hutchins’ family in Ukraine and members of the crew.
Other Rust producers
In addition to Baldwin, Rust has six other producers, Ryan Winterstern, Ryan Donnell Smith, Nathan Klingher, Anjul Nigam, Matt DelPiano and Grant Hill. Hill came aboard the project after the shooting, when it resumed production in Montana. The other producers were fined $100,000 by New Mexico’s Occupational Health and Safety Bureau and are defendants in a civil lawsuit filed by Halyna Hutchins’s family in Ukraine. They are currently attempting to find a distribution deal for their film.
Kari Morrissey
The lead prosecutor in both the Baldwin and the Gutierrez-Reed cases, Morrissey was accused of failing to turn over evidence at Baldwin’s trial before her case collapsed in spectacular fashion. Her fellow special prosecutor, Erlinda Ocampo Johnson, resigned even before the hearing about the evidentiary issue ended on July 12, and Morrissey chose to take the stand to defend herself. It didn’t work. “If this conduct does not rise to the level of bad faith, it certainly comes so near to bad faith to show signs of scorching prejudice,” Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer said of Morrissey’s behavior, before dismissing the case against Baldwin. Speaking on the courthouse steps after the dismissal, Morrissey said that she disagreed with the judge’s decision but respected it. “I’m disappointed, because I believe that the importance of the evidence was misconstrued by the defense attorneys,” Morrissey said. On July 15, Baldwin’s attorneys sent Morrissey a letter advising that they may sue her, and notifying her to preserve information related to the case.
Update July 18, 12:20 p.m. This story has been updated to reflect that Baldwin’s attorneys sent Morrissey a letter advising that they may sue her.
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