D.A. and OSHA Disagree on Alec Baldwins Culpability as ‘Rust’ Producer (EXCLUSIVE)

Investigators spent more than a year sorting out blame for the death of Halyna Hutchins, the cinematographer killed on the set of “Rust.” In the end, two agencies came to two sharply different conclusions about Alec Baldwin’s level of responsibility as a producer of the film.

Prosecutors charged Baldwin for firing the gun that killed Hutchins, but also for management failures that created a hazardous set.

“We believe Baldwin, as a producer, knows everything that goes on, on the set,” prosecutor Andrea Reeb said on Fox News’ “The Five” last month. “There were a lot of safety concerns that were brought to the attention of management, and he did nothing about it.” 

But in a parallel proceeding, the New Mexico division of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration found that Baldwin was not in charge and was not the one culpable for lax oversight.

“He didn’t actually have employees on-site that he or his delegated persons would manage or oversee,” said Lorenzo Montoya, OSHA’s lead investigator, in a deposition last month. Aside from his personal assistant, Montoya said, “He has no employee presence. He’s just him.”

The divergent conclusions could complicate efforts to hold Baldwin criminally responsible. They also raise questions about why, if the prosecutors wanted to pursue management failures, they did not charge others in the production’s hierarchy.

Reeb, a Republican member of the New Mexico legislature, was appointed last August by Santa Fe D.A. Mary Carmack-Altwies, a Democrat, to serve as the special prosecutor on the case. In an interview on “Hannity,” Reeb said that politics played no role in the charging decision.

But some have argued that Reeb has a political incentive to target Baldwin, who is known for his liberal views.

“They’re trying to grab headlines and sensationalize this for politics, and it really bothers me,” says Dan Lindsey, a defense lawyer in Clovis, N.M., where Reeb has been a prosecutor for 25 years. “They’re way off base here.”

Hutchins’ death was the result of a chain of errors. Investigators have failed to assign blame for the first link in the chain — the contamination of a box of dummy rounds with a handful of similar-looking live rounds. Complicating matters further, filmmaking is a collaborative enterprise, and it is not always clear who reports to whom.

But the OSHA investigation laid ultimate management authority on producer Ryan Smith and his company, Rust Movie Prods. “Ryan Smith was identified as the boss by multiple people,” Montoya testified.

OSHA was especially critical of David Halls, the first assistant director, who was in charge of set safety. The agency faulted him for not taking action to address two accidental discharges of blank rounds five days prior to Hutchins’ death. After

Baldwin’s stunt double fired a blank by mistake, Halls testified to OSHA that he did ask, “What the bleep is going on in there?” But he was not concerned enough to order a full-blown investigation.

“There is no precedent, in my experience, that would warrant stopping everything and investigating it,” Halls said.

He also testified that if he had a safety concern, he would have reported it to the producers, but he did not.

In a probable-cause statement, the D.A.’s office blamed Baldwin and armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed — but not Halls — for failing to address the misfires.

The D.A. also faulted Baldwin for not ensuring that safety meetings were held, contributing to a “climate of recklessness” on set. But in his deposition, Halls said that it was his job to oversee safety meetings.

In addition, the D.A. blamed Baldwin for allowing the hiring of Gutierrez Reed, despite her inexperience. However, Gabrielle Pickle, the line producer, testified that she hired Gutierrez Reed after consulting with Halls, director Joel Souza, the production designer and “one or two of the producers.”

“This industry is the most collaborative decision-making industry I have ever been in,” Pickle testified.

She did not mention Baldwin as a participant in the hiring process. Baldwin has denied any involve- ment and has said that his producer role was limited to creative choices, such as casting decisions and script changes.

Gutierrez Reed testified that seven people had some role in supervising her work, including Halls, Pickle, the unit production manager and the prop master. Baldwin was not among them.

OSHA can refer its findings to the state attorney general for prosecution. The agency did not do that in this case, says spokesman Matthew Maez, because the Santa Fe County Sheriff ’s Office was already investigating.

Asked about the different conclusions reached by the two investigations, Maez says that OSHA gave its case file to the D.A., “but was otherwise uninvolved in their investigation or decision-making process.” He referred further questions to the D.A.’s office, which declined to comment.

Smith was not charged with a crime, nor was Rust Movie Prods. Of the five other producers, only Baldwin was charged. Gutierrez Reed was charged with involuntary manslaughter for mistakenly loading a live round into Baldwin’s gun. She and Baldwin both face up to 18 months in prison if convicted.

Halls was the only other person prosecuted. He was allowed to plead no contest to a misdemeanor and will face no jail time. Carmack-Altwies told the Los Angeles Times that Halls was given a plea deal because he was cooperative and was “the least culpable” of the defendants.

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