- Alec Baldwin may face criminal charges for last year's fatal "Rust" shooting, the local DA said.
- Santa Fe's DA said in a letter to the state's finance board that Baldwin could potentially be charged.
Actor Alec Baldwin might soon face criminal charges for last year's fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the New Mexico film set of "Rust," the local district attorney said in a government letter.
Santa Fe County District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said in a recent letter to the state's finance board that up to four people, including Baldwin, could potentially be charged in connection to the October 21, 2021, shooting, according to a copy of the letter obtained by Insider on Monday.
"If charges are warranted, the FJDA [First Judicial District Attorney] anticipates prosecuting up to four individuals," states the letter, which adds, "One of the possible defendants is well-known movie actor Alec Baldwin."
The August 30 letter — which asks New Mexico's Board of Finance for $635,500 in emergency grant funding to cover the cost of prosecuting the case — says that the case could require four separate jury trials.
Baldwin attorney Luke Nikas told Insider in a statement on Monday that Carmack-Altwies "has made clear that she has not received" the local sheriff's final report on the shooting "or made any decisions about who, if anyone, might be charged in this case."
Nikas said he was recently told by the district attorney's office "it would be premature to discuss the case because they had not yet reviewed the file or deliberated about their charging decision."
"It is irresponsible to report otherwise," Nikas said. "The DA's office must be given the space to review this matter without unfounded speculation and innuendo."
Carmack-Altwies' office declined to comment on the case to Insider.
Carmack-Altwies told the Santa Fe New Mexican, which first reported on the matter, that her office is "certainly looking at all the homicide statutes and any gun statutes under New Mexico criminal code" when asked about specific charges that could be brought.
The district attorney's office did not definitively tell the news outlet that charges in the case will be filed or who charges would be filed against, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported.
Carmack-Altwies' letter to the state's finance board does not name any other possible defendants but does state that Baldwin "shot and killed" Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza "while rehearsing a scene" for the Western flick.
"Because the evidence has just been returned, the State is ready to make charging decisions in the 'Rust' case," the letter says, explaining that the state is still waiting on "a few additional items, which are expected to be delivered any day."
"The 'Rust' case needs to be prosecuted immediately, and the costs to prosecute the case will come immediately," says the letter.
The state's finance board has since granted the district attorney's office more than $317,000 to prosecute the case, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported.
The district attorney told the Santa Fe New Mexican that her office will request a "special appropriation" for the rest of the cash.
Carmack-Altwies said in the letter that her office's current budget cannot cover the cost of prosecuting the case without "depleting" its current budget and said, "This is extremely dangerous to the community as dangerous criminals could possibly be released or not prosecuted properly or aggressively."
Hutchins, a 42-year-old married mother-of-one, was fatally shot as she set up a scene inside a church building on the Bonanza Creek Ranch movie set.
The shooting happened as Baldwin was practicing a cross-draw technique that involved him pointing a Colt .45 revolver at a camera on the set, according to affidavits previously released by the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office.
A bullet from the gun struck Hutchins, mortally wounding her. Souza, the movie's director, was also injured by the stray bullet.
Baldwin — who was producing and starring in the "Rust" film — has said that he never pulled the trigger of the gun that fired and resulted in the death of Hutchins.
A recent FBI report determined that the gun used in the shooting could not have been fired without the trigger being pulled.