Prosecutors seeking to recharge Alec Baldwin in fatal shooting on set of Western movie ‘Rust’

Special prosecutors are seeking to recharge actor Alec Baldwin in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of a Western movie in 2021, describing Tuesday their preparations to present new information to a grand jury.

New Mexico-based prosecutors Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis said they’ll present their case to the grand jury within the next two months, noting “additional facts” have come to light in the shooting on the set of the film “Rust” that killed Halyna Hutchins.

Baldwin, a coproducer of the film, was pointing a gun at Hutchins during a rehearsal inside a rustic chapel on a movie-set ranch near Santa Fe when the gun went off on Oct. 21, 2021, killing the cinematographer and wounding director Joel Souza.

“Additional facts have come to light that we believe show Mr. Baldwin has criminal culpability in the death of Halyna Hutchins and the shooting of Joel Souza,” Morrissey and Lewis said in an email. “We believe the appropriate course of action is to permit a panel of New Mexico citizens to determine from here whether Mr. Baldwin should be held over for criminal trial.”

Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer — but not the trigger — and the gun fired.

Attorneys for Baldwin said the latest move by prosecutors is misguided.

“It is unfortunate that a terrible tragedy has been turned into this misguided prosecution. We will answer any charges in court,” Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro said in an email.

Special prosecutors initially dismissed an involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin in April, saying they were informed the gun might have been modified before the shooting and malfunctioned. They later pivoted and began weighing whether to refile a charge against Baldwin after receiving a new analysis of the gun.