Three years after a fatal on-set shooting rocked the production of the indie Western film *Rust*, Hollywood actor Alec Baldwin is set to face civil litigation over the incident, even after his criminal case was fully dismissed in early 2024. The latest development in this high-profile entertainment industry tragedy came when a Los Angeles judge ruled that a negligence lawsuit filed against Baldwin by the film’s former lighting technician Serge Svetnoy can proceed to trial.
The incident that sparked the litigation dates back to October 2021, when the *Rust* crew was conducting a scene rehearsal at a New Mexico film set. A prop gun held by Baldwin discharged a live bullet, killing 42-year-old cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and leaving the film’s director Joel Souza with serious injuries. Svetnoy, who was on set during the incident, alleges that a bullet came dangerously close to striking him, and that both Baldwin and the film’s production team failed to follow mandatory and industry-standard gun safety protocols. He has brought claims of negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress against the defendants.
In a significant 2024 development that cleared Baldwin of criminal liability, a New Mexico judge dismissed the involuntary manslaughter charge against the actor with prejudice. This ruling came after defense attorneys uncovered that law enforcement and prosecution teams had withheld key evidence—a collection of unshared bullets potentially connected to the shooting—from Baldwin’s legal team. While prosecutors maintained the ammunition was unrelated to the incident and did not match the projectile recovered from the set, the judge ruled that the evidence must be shared with the defense regardless of prosecutors’ assessment, leading to the full dismissal of the criminal case. A dismissal with prejudice means the charge cannot be re-filed against Baldwin once all appeals of the ruling are finalized.
Separately, the film’s on-set armourer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for her role in the shooting in 2024, and was sentenced to 18 months of prison time. Baldwin has consistently maintained he never pulled the trigger of the prop gun, a claim that has remained at the center of his defense throughout all legal proceedings.
When reviewing Svetnoy’s civil suit, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Maurice Leiter allowed the core claims of negligence and emotional distress to move forward, but threw out the additional allegation of assault. Court documents released Friday confirmed the judge’s ruling, with a provisional trial date set for October 12 of this year if no out-of-court settlement is reached between the parties ahead of the hearing. The BBC has reached out to Baldwin’s legal team for comment on the latest ruling, and prior to this decision, Baldwin and *Rust*’s producers had reached a confidential settlement in a separate wrongful death lawsuit brought by Hutchins’ family.