In 'Rust' shooting, prosecutors wrestled over charges

New Mexico prosecutors acknowledged Thursday they struggled over whether to charge actor Alec Baldwin and weapons handler Hannah Gutierrez Reed with involuntary manslaughter, a felony, but said they felt an obligation to the slain cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

“To be very honest, we wrestled with charging anyone,” New Mexico’s First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. “This is a very complicated case (and) there were three people that we believe were potentially culpable for firing the weapon.”

Those three — Baldwin, Gutierrez Reed and David Halls, the assistant director — all faced felony charges in the death of Hutchins, she said.

But Halls, who was the on-set safety coordinator, cooperated with prosecutors