(Headline USA) Potential criminal charges against actor Alec Baldwin and other production members of the fatal Rust film could be coming this month, according to reports.
The Santa Fe District Attorney’s Office is ramping down its investigation into the fatal Rust shooting, during which Baldwin fired a live round from a prop gun, killing director of photography Halyna Hutchins and injuring one other.
New Mexico’s Board of Finance reportedly granted more than $317,000 to cover costs for investigating possible prosecutions, indicating that four people could be charged. One of the possible defendants, according to Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies, is Baldwin.
Carmack-Altwies plans to make a final decision on the matter before the end of January, according to TMZ.
“If the facts and evidence warrant criminal charges under New Mexico law then charges will be brought. No one is above the law,” Carmack-Altwies’s spokesperson said last year.
Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza had previously warned that no one is “off the hook” for their role in the shooting.
“It’s too early to rule anything out right now,” he said last year when asked whether Baldwin had committed a criminal act. “I think there was complacency on the set. There was disorganization, and a degree of negligence. Whether that rises to a criminal level, that will be up to the district attorney.”
Baldwin has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, claiming in an interview that he never pulled the trigger of the prop gun. He also complained recently that he’s had a difficult time lining up work as a result of the ongoing criminal investigation.
“I got fired from another job yesterday,” he told CNN last year. “There I was all set to go to a movie, jump on a plane. I’ve been talking with these guys for months and they told me yesterday we don’t want to do the film with you because of this.”
