Last week, a New Mexico district attorney stated that her office could soon be able to charge up to four victims in the fatal shooting. “Rust”Shooting began in October last year with criminal charges for homicide.
D.A. Mary Carmack-Altwies, in a New Mexico Board of Finance MeetingOn Sept. 20, she requested emergency funding to allow her to attempt four jury trials. She clarified that she has yet to review a final report from the Santa Fe Sheriff’s office but that “we are within weeks, if not days,”It is possible to receive it.
“It’s become apparent that we will be potentially charging between one and four people with criminal charges and each of those charges will probably include some variation of our homicide statute,”Carmack-Altwies spoke at the meeting.
The D.A. The D.A. Granted $317,750 in emergency funding by the board of finance, though it was half the amount that her office had requested, which would’ve gone to paying for a dedicated attorney and support staff to try the cases.
“These cases look to be too big for just my office to handle,” Carmack-Altwies said. “We need an almost full-time attorney and someone who is very experienced on complex cases and very experienced with litigation.”
The “Rust” case took a step forward last month when the FBI completed its forensics analysis on the bullet that killed the film’s cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, which has allowed the Santa Fe Sheriff’s office to resume their investigation. However at the time, law enforcement officials still need access to data from Alec Baldwin’s cell phone, which was turned over to authorities in New York, and that results were “forthcoming.”
A representative for the Santa Fe county Sheriff’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on an updated timeline for the investigation.
Baldwin was holding the gun which, on Oct. 21, killed Hutchins and injures Joel Souza at the Western film set “Rust.”Baldwin was told that the gun was his. “cold”he did not have any live ammunition. But the key question of his investigation was: “Rust”Investigations have focused on how live rounds got into the weapon. In addition to Baldwin, the film’s armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed and assistant director Dave Halls have been of interest to Sheriff Mendoza in the case.
Numerous civil lawsuits have been filed over the film’s working conditions. There are also larger industry calls for better safety and training.
