Will Alec Baldwin face charges? Lawsuit is likely, but prosecution a tough ...

Will Alec Baldwin face charges? Lawsuit is likely, but prosecution a tough ...
Will Alec Baldwin face charges? Lawsuit is likely, but prosecution a tough ...

Legal experts tell DailyMail.com that lawsuits naming Alec Baldwin are a virtual certainty, but that any potential criminal charges are more likely to center on whoever prepared the prop gun that he fired on set, accidentally killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

'If Baldwin or another person was negligent, a civil suit is almost a no-brainer at this point -- a very high likelihood,' said attorney Jamie White, who has experience in both criminal defense and civil prosecutions.

'But the criminal side is going to be very fact-sensitive. Only if someone was recklessly negligent would there be criminal consequences,' he added. 'It is not likely that it was Baldwin's job to prepare props.'

Baldwin said Friday that his killing of a cinematographer with a prop gun on a movie set was a 'tragic accident' as authorities investigated the shooting, which also wounded the director.

Alec Baldwin speaks on the phone in the parking lot outside the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office on Thursday. Legal experts tell DailyMail.com that following Halyna Hutchins' death, lawsuits naming Alec Baldwin are a virtual certainty

Alec Baldwin speaks on the phone in the parking lot outside the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office on Thursday. Legal experts tell DailyMail.com that following Halyna Hutchins' death, lawsuits naming Alec Baldwin are a virtual certainty

'She was 42 and had an incredibly promising future, so her potential earnings were likely to be significant,' one attorney said of Hutchins (above), who was killed on the set

'She was 42 and had an incredibly promising future, so her potential earnings were likely to be significant,' one attorney said of Hutchins (above), who was killed on the set

Hutchins, the cinematographer on the Western movie Rust, was killed and director Joel Souza was shot and injured on Thursday in the desert on the outskirts of Santa Fe.

A spokesperson for Baldwin said a prop gun with blanks 'misfired'. A spokesman for the Santa Fe County sheriff said detectives were investigating what type of projectile was discharged and how. No immediate charges were filed.

Key facts in the case have not yet been publicly confirmed, including who loaded the prop weapon, what kind of cartridges it was loaded with, and how and why a projectile was expelled.  

'As the facts have thus far been presented, Baldwin will not be charged with an intentional act of violence,' said White. 

'However, it is not unheard of to be charged with significant negligence. There are a lot more facts that need to be developed, but studios take extensive cautions in light of Brandon Lee's death in 1993,' he said, referring to the actor killed by a squib load on the set of The Crow.

Los Angeles personal injury attorney Miguel Custodio said that as the known facts stand, 'liability certainly points to Rust Movie Productions and the prop manager.'

A news cameraman records the entrance of the Santa Fe County Sheriff office in Santa Fe on Friday. Actor Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun on the set of a Western being filmed at the Bonanza Creek Film Ranch, killing the cinematographer, officials said

A news cameraman records the entrance of the Santa Fe County Sheriff office in Santa Fe on Friday. Actor Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun on the set of a Western being filmed at the Bonanza Creek Film Ranch, killing the cinematographer, officials said

A distraught Alec Baldwin lingers in the parking lot outside the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office on Thursday, after he was questioned about a shooting on the set of the film Rust on the outskirts of Santa Fe

A distraught Alec Baldwin lingers in the parking lot

read more from dailymail.....

PREV Moment Good Samaritan confronts 'bully' seen shouting at 'homeless man' and ... trends now
NEXT In news vacuum, rumours and concern swirl over Catherine mogaznewsen