Luis Sánchez Saturno/The New Mexican
SANTA FE, NM — Alec Baldwin will no longer face prison time in connection with the accidental death of “Rust” camerawoman Halyna Hutchins after a judge dismissed his manslaughter charge Friday.
“There are too many people who have supported me to thank them now,” Baldwin said on Instagram Saturday morning. “You all will never know how much I appreciate your kindness to my family.”
After a dramatic hearing over the prosecution’s failure to turn over evidence to the defense, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed the case on the grounds that it cannot be retried.
But attorney Gloria Allred vowed to continue fighting Baldwin in civil court in New Mexico, saying the judge’s decision was “in no way, shape or form an exoneration for him.”
Allred represents Hutchins’ parents, Olga Solovey and Anatolii Androsovych, and her sister, Svetlana Zemko, who all live in Ukraine.
At a press conference outside the Judge Steve Herrera Judicial Complex on Saturday morning, Allred said the judge’s decision was a “devastating blow” to the family.
“It doesn’t change the fact that Alec Baldwin killed Halyna Hutchins on the set of ‘Rust,'” she said. “It doesn’t change the fact that he fired a loaded gun while pointing it at a human being.”
Allred sued Baldwin and others in Los Angeles in 2023. In February, a state court judge granted Baldwin’s appeal, saying Hutchins did not have a “sufficiently close relationship” with her parents and sister to seek damages for what she called “loss of marital community.”
At the time, Allred said she would amend the lawsuit and refile it. But in June, her firm dropped the California lawsuit and filed a new one in Santa Fe. That lawsuit is still in its early stages.
Allred said she looks forward to taking the case to trial.
“We will fight for Halyna Hutchins to the end,” she said, adding that “the parents had a very close relationship with Halyna, even though they were thousands of miles away.”
PARK CITY, UT – JANUARY 19: Filmmaker Halyna Hutchins attends the 2018 Sundance Film Festival Official Kickoff Party hosted by SundanceTV at Sundance TV Headquarters on January 19, 2018 in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Mat Hayward/Getty Images for AMC Networks)
Getty Images via AMC Networks
Matthew Hutchins, the cinematographer’s widower, reached an agreement with Baldwin and the “Rust” production in 2022. But in March diversity reported that the production had failed to make certain payments required in the settlement. His lawyers threatened to renegotiate the lawsuit.
Attorney Brian Panish said in a statement Friday that he expects to take the lawsuit to court.
“We look forward to presenting all of the evidence to a jury and holding Mr. Baldwin accountable for his actions surrounding the senseless death of Halyna Hutchins,” Panish said.
The filming of Rust also sparked a number of other civil lawsuits involving the production, crew members and insurance companies. Most of these lawsuits are still pending.
