One of the people Alec Baldwin has said should be held accountable for the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins is on a list of witnesses who will testify in Baldwin’s upcoming trial.
On the prosecution’s witness list is the name of David Halls, who worked as an assistant director on the set of the film “Rust.” Baldwin and the film’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, have been charged with involuntary manslaughter.
In an interview with CNN, Baldwin maintained his innocence and blamed 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.
“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.
According to the Daily Mail, Baldwin claims he never pulled the trigger on the gun that shot and killed Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza. However, an FBI report contradicts the actor’s version of events.
It is unclear who said and did what on the day of the shooting in October 2021. Although witnesses said Halls called out “cold gun,” meaning it had no live rounds, 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 handed the weapon to Baldwin that day.
Gutierrez-Reed claims she gave the gun to Halls without saying “cold gun.”
The LA Times reported that Thomas Gandy, the film’s special effects coordinator, said Gutierrez-Reed “spun the cylinder as you see in movies when someone is playing Russian roulette. Then she handed it to Dave, who said, ‘cold gun on set,’ and handed it to Alec.”
But Halls remembered 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, as well as lawsuits, are part of the aftermath of the shooting.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Halls, who had been sued by Baldwin, countersued Baldwin in December, claiming that the shooting was the result of “active and primary negligence” on the part of Baldwin and other crew members.