Feb. 29 (UPI) — The first assistant director of Rust testified in court that he was “negligent” by failing to check safety measures before a prop gun got into the hands of actor Alec Baldwin, who accidentally shot and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins while on the move set in 2021.
David Halls, the first assistant director on Rust, gave emotional testimony Thursday during the trial of armorer Hannah Gutierrez, 26, who has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in the incident.
Baldwin, who is also facing involuntary manslaughter charges and scheduled to stand trial in July, has consistently maintained he never pulled the trigger on the gun that fired and killed Hutchins and wounded the film’s director, Joel Souza.
The FBI and independent firearms experts insist it was nearly impossible for the weapon to fire without the trigger being pulled.
Baldwin was practicing what’s known as a cross-draw in a church on the movie set in Santa Fe, N.M., when the gun fired a live round, striking Hutchins, who died, and Souza, who suffered a non-life-threatening injury.
Halls, also the film’s safety coordinator, had conducted the safety check on the Colt .45 revolver before the weapon was handed to Baldwin.
Baldwin had been discussing with Hutchins where to point the gun before the shooting occurred, an emotionally shaken Halls told the court as tears welled in his eyes.
“Then the gun went off,” Halls said. “It wasn’t computing. My thought was that a blank round had been loaded.”
Halls said he immediately rushed to Hutchins, who was on the ground and told him “I can’t feel my legs,” he testified Thursday.
Halls, charged with negligent use of a deadly weapon, was sentenced last year to six months of unsupervised probation as part of a plea deal.
“I was negligent in checking the gun properly,” Halls said when prosecutors asked him Thursday why he accepted that plea deal.
Halls said he testified Thursday so that people knew the truth about what really happened on the movie set.
“That Halyna’s husband and son, her family, know the truth of what happened,” he said. “It’s important that the cast and the crew, producers of Rust know what happened. And it’s important that the industry, the motion picture and television industry, knows what happened so that this never happens again.”
Halls testified that Gutierrez loaded the gun with dummy rounds and showed him the cylinder, and said Gutierrez handed the gun to Baldwin before walking away.
Gutierrez and Baldwin have both said Halls handed the actor the gun. When questioned by attorneys, Halls said he was aware of the discrepancies but stood by his account.
Gutierrez was charged with involuntary manslaughter in Hutchins’ death following an investigation. She was subsequently charged with tampering with evidence. She pleaded not guilty to that and a drug charge.
Prosecutors say Gutierrez handed a small bag of cocaine to a law enforcement officer after she had been interviewed about the accidental shooting.
Her attorneys have said Gutierrez is being made a scapegoat in the case and was blamed for “sloppy” weapon handling.
