'Rust' Assistant Director Set to Become Alec Baldwin's Worst Nightmare in Court, New Documents Show
One of the people actor Alec Baldwin has said should be blamed for the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins is on a list of witnesses to support the prosecution in Baldwin’s upcoming trial.
A witness list issued by the prosecution includes the name of David Halls, who was an assistant director on the set of the movie “Rust.” Baldwin and Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who was the armorer for the film, have been charged with involuntary manslaughter.
In an interview with CNN, Baldwin said he was innocent of wrongdoing and cast blame at Gutierrez-Reed and Halls
“There are two people who didn’t do what they were supposed to do. I’m not sitting there saying I want them to, you know, go to prison, or I want their lives to be hell. I don’t want that, but I want everybody to know that those are the two people that are responsible for what happened,” he said.
At that time, Baldwin was accused of blame-shifting.
“Baldwin is pointing the finger at others because the evidence is pointing at him. Halls is not responsible. Everyone needs to stop. People are only pointing the finger at Halls because they don’t want the responsibility of being wrong. Halls is a scapegoat. People need to look at the evidence,” said Lisa Torraco, an attorney for Halls.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Halls accepted a plea deal offered by New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies in which he will plead guilty to a misdemeanor count of negligent use of a deadly weapon. He will then get a sentence of six months of probation, pay a $500 fine and meet other conditions.
“Dave Halls approached us and was cooperative with our inquiry, with our investigation. We had a very frank and honest discussion … and we felt like on the ladder of culpability he was probably still culpable [but] that he was the least culpable of the three people,” Carmack-Altwies said.
“He will be testifying or cooperating in the prosecution,” she said.
Baldwin has claimed he never pulled the trigger on the gun that shot and killed Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza, although an FBI report differs with the actor’s version of events, according to the Daily Mail.
Who said and did what on the October 2021 day of the shooting is in dispute. Although witness accounts have said Halls called out “cold gun,” meaning it had no live rounds, when he handed it to Baldwin that day, he said in a deposition to the New Mexico Occupational Health and Safety Bureau that he gave the gun to Gutierrez-Reed, who called out “cold gun” and gave the weapon to Baldwin.
Gutierrez-Reed has said she gave the gun to Halls and never said “cold gun.”
The LA Times reported that Thomas Gandy, the film’s special effects coordinator, said Gutierrez-Reed “spun the cylinder, like you see in movies when someone is playing Russian roulette. Then she handed the gun to Dave, and he said ‘cold gun on set’ and handed it to Alec.”
But Halls had recalled the day differently.
“Hannah comes in with the revolver, shows me the revolver, we do the gun check. She shows me that the gun is empty, and she hands it to Mr. Baldwin,” Halls said, adding that when he looked at the cylinder of the revolver, “I saw the dummy rounds in there. … I saw three to four.”
Conflicting accounts are part of the aftermath of the shooting, as are lawsuits.
In December, Halls, who had been sued by Baldwin, countersued Baldwin saying it was “active and primary negligence” of Baldwin and other crew members that led to the shooting, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
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