(Los Angeles) The first assistant director of the film Rust, on the set of which actor and producer Alec Baldwin unintentionally killed the cinematographer, was sentenced Friday to 6 months suspended sentence with probation after a agreement to plead guilty.
This is the first conviction in this case, here for negligence when using a deadly weapon.
It was this first assistant, Dave Halls, who handed Alec Baldwin, on October 21, 2021, a weapon supposed to be loaded with blank bullets, which the actor had activated, killing Halyna Hutchins and injuring the director, Joel Souza.
Dave Halls, 63, handed him the gun, informing him that it was “cold”, or not dangerous, in Hollywood parlance.
Alec Baldwin, along with filming gunsmith Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, have both been charged with manslaughter and face up to 18 months in prison and a $5,000 fine.
The police investigation focused in particular on determining how live ammunition could have been found on this set on a ranch in New Mexico, which is strictly prohibited, precisely to avoid accidents.
Officers have concluded that Hannah Gutierrez-Reed put the ammunition in the gun used by Alec Baldwin, instead of a dummy bullet.
Prosecutor Kari Morrissey said during Friday’s hearing in a New Mexico court that Dave Halls, who also took on the role of security coordinator for the low-budget filming and was thus the “last line of defense”, was not had not “checked every cartridge in the gun to confirm that they were blanks.”
Alec Baldwin, 64, best known for the 30 Rock series, has always said that he was assured that his weapon was harmless.
By pleading guilty on Friday, Dave Halls agrees to testify in the future on the matter.
