Actor Alec Baldwin may face charges again in the “Rust” movie set shooting after a second analysis of the gun involved alleges he pulled the trigger.
Baldwin has consistently maintained that he did not pull the trigger of the pistol that fatally shot 42-year-old cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza on the New Mexico set in October 2021.
In April, involuntary manslaughter charges against him were dismissed, with prosecutors saying the gun might have been modified before the shooting and malfunctioned. Prosecutors commissioned a new analysis of the gun.
A new gun analysis report, dated Aug. 2, assembled for Santa Fe County special prosecutors Kari T. Morrissey and Jason J. Lewis found that the gun was not modified.
The report, conducted by firearms expert Lucien C. Haag of Carefree, Arizona, and forensic science consultant Michael G. Haag of Albuquerque, New Mexico, analyzed the Colt .45 prop revolver, cartridges, and footage from filming.
The experts had replaced parts of the gun that were broken during FBI analysis and said that the gun fired as designed.
“Although Alec Baldwin repeatedly denies pulling the trigger, given the tests, findings and observations reported here, the trigger had to be pulled or depressed sufficiently to release the fully cocked or retracted hammer of the evidence revolver,” Lucien Haag wrote.
“From an examination of the fired cartridge case and the operationally restored evidence revolver, this fatal incident was the consequence of the hammer being manually retracted to its fully rearward and cocked position followed, at some point, by the pull or rearward depression of the trigger,” Haag wrote.
The report included frames from videos on set submitted to the experts that showed Baldwin in Western garb in a mock church on set. One frame showed him “cocking the silver-colored hammer of a long barreled revolver with his right index finger ending up on or near the trigger,” Haag wrote.
Two other frames showed Baldwin’s right index finger “inside the trigger guard and either on, or near the trigger,” Haag noted.
The report was included in a motion filed Tuesday by the attorneys of “Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed — who remains charged with involuntary manslaughter in the case. The motion raised the findings of the report and requested jury instructions on causation.
Representatives for Alec Baldwin declined to comment on the findings of the firearms report.
Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey had previously told NBC News a decision had not been made about the charges concerning Baldwin, e-mailing on Aug. 7: “I am not giving any comment at this time. I have a lot to consider.”
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
