Alec Baldwin to appear in court for the first time on February 24 on ... trends now
Alec Baldwin's first court appearance for involuntary manslaughter charges has been scheduled for February 24.
On Wednesday a New Mexico court scheduled Baldwin and film-set weapons supervisor Hannah Gutierrez-Reed to appear by videoconference before Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer.
His defense attorneys will therefore have around three weeks to provide a formal response to the felony charges.
Prosecutors said in January both Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed would be charged for the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust - a film Baldwin was both producing and starring in.
Baldwin has insisted the involuntary manslaughter charges are inapplicable because he had not been acting negligently when Hutchins was accidentally shot. He has insisted he did not pull the trigger of the revolver that fired the bullet, and that he only pulled back its hammer.
Alec Baldwin is due to appear in court on February 24 to face involuntary manslaughter charges
The film-set weapons supervisor Hannah Gutierrez-Reed (pictured) is also facing those charges
Baldwin and Gutierrez Reed each face two counts of involuntary manslaughter, but a jury will decide which of the two is more appropriate, New Mexico District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said.
One of those two charges includes a 'firearm enhancement', which would carry a sentence of up to five years in prison, while the other is punishable by 18 months.
A manslaughter charge can be brought if a defendant killed somebody while doing something lawful but was acting negligently or carelessly.
In court documents filed on Tuesday prosecutors said reckless safety failures were routine on the set.
They said Baldwin failed to attend a mandatory firearms training before filming and made the decision as a producer to work with Gutierrez-Reed, who was an uncertified and inexperienced armorer.
The prosecutors acknowledged that Gutierrez-Reed set up an hour-long subsequent session for Baldwin, but claimed they only completed 30 minutes of it.
'According to Reed, Baldwin was distracted and talking on his cell phone to his family during the training,' the prosecutors stated.
A cause statement lists a number of safety failures across a 10-day period, including other misfires on set a camera crew walkout over concerns of a lack of safety.
It also described Baldwin putting his finger 'inside of the trigger guard and on the trigger' on the day of the shooting, and moments beforehand.
Baldwin fatally shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins (pictured) on the set of Rust in 2021
