一 | Prosecutors said Tuesday they believe Alec Baldwin has "criminal culpability" in the deadly shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the New Mexico set of "Rust."The special prosecutors investigating the "Rust" shooting said they intend to present the case to a grand jury within the next two months to "determine whether probable cause exists to bind Baldwin over on criminal charges."The actor was practicing a cross-draw on the Santa Fe set in October 2021 when the gun fired, striking the cinematographer and director Joel Souza, who suffered a non-life-threatening injury."After extensive investigation over the past several months, additional facts have come to light that we believe show Mr. Baldwin has criminal culpability in the death of Halyna Hutchins and the shooting of Joel Souza," special prosecutors Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis said in a statement. "We believe the appropriate course of action is to permit a panel of New Mexico citizens to determine from here whether Mr. Baldwin should be held over for criminal trial."Baldwin's attorneys said they will "answer any charges in court.""It is unfortunate that a terrible tragedy has been turned into this misguided prosecution," his attorneys, Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro of Quinn Emanuel, said in a statement to ABC News.Baldwin was initially charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter over the death of Hutchins. Special prosecutors in the case dropped those against the actor in April, though noted at the time that their investigation remains "active and ongoing" and that charges may be refiled."Rust" armorer Hannah Gutierrez was also charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter. She also faces an additional charge of tampering with evidence, with state prosecutors claiming she handed off a small bag of cocaine following her interview with police the day of the shooting.Gun enhancement charges filed in the case against both Baldwin and Gutierrez were dropped in late February.Gutierrez's attorneys sought to have her charges dismissed, arguing there were jurisdictional and structural issues with the case tied to a change in prosecutors and alleged prejudicial statements made to the media.State District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer denied the motion in August, saying any jurisdictional issues were cured after prosecutors filed an amended criminal information. The judge also said the defense failed to demonstrate "actual and substantial prejudice" to warrant such an "exceptional" remedy as dismissing the charges, and that extrajudicial statements are not something "that need to be addressed at this point."Earlier this month, Sommer ordered "Rust" producers to turn over documents to prosecutors on the agreement between Baldwin and Rust Productions. The production company was seeking to quash the special prosecutor's request.During the hearing, Morrissey said the production company "refused" a request by Gutierrez for more time to train Baldwin on the weapon. Morrissey argued the request was denied to keep production costs low, and that Baldwin, as a producer on the film, would benefit from lower costs."This entire tragedy occurred because Rust Productions cut corners every chance they could and they hired inexperienced and ill equipped crew members. So we have a situation where Rust Productions is doing everything it can to keep costs low so that it can keep profits high," Morrissey said during the Oct. 6 hearing.David Halls, the first assistant director for the film, was sentenced in March to six months unsupervised probation as part of a plea deal. Halls, who handed the Colt .45 revolver to Baldwin prior to the shooting, was charged with negligent use of a deadly weapon.。 LOS ANGELES -- By the time the scuba dive boat sank off the Southern California coast after catching fire, 34 people had been killed in the deadliest maritime disaster in recent U.S. history.The Labor Day tragedy in 2019 spurred changes to maritime regulations, congressional reform and civil lawsuits. Now four years later, a federal trial for the Conception's captain, Jerry Boylan, is set to begin Tuesday with jury selection in Los Angeles.It's been a long, frustrating wait for the families of those who perished. They say a judge's ruling that their loved ones should not be called “victims” at trial has only added to their pain. “The past four years have been like living in a nightmare that you don’t wake up from,” said Kathleen McIlvain, whose 44-year-old son Charles was killed. The 75-foot (23-meter) boat was anchored off the Channel Islands, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of Santa Barbara, on Sept. 2, 2019, when it caught fire before dawn on the last day of a three-day excursion, sinking less than 100 feet (30 meters) from shore. The National Transportation Safety Board blamed Boylan for the tragedy, saying his failure to post a roving night watchman allowed the fire to quickly spread undetected, trapping the 33 passengers and one crew member below. Those on board included a new deckhand who’d landed her dream job and an environmental scientist who did research in Antarctica, along with a globe-trotting couple, a Singaporean data scientist, three sisters, their father and his wife. U.S. District Judge George Wu on Oct. 12 granted Boylan's request to bar most if not all references to “victims” — which the captain's attorneys say is a prejudicial term that jeopardizes his right to a fair trial. It's the latest setback for the prosecution.A grand jury in 2020 initially indicted Boylan on 34 counts of a pre-Civil War statute colloquially known as “seaman’s manslaughter” that was designed to hold steamboat captains and crew responsible for maritime disasters. Each count carries up to 10 years in prison in a conviction, for a total of 340 years.Defense lawyers sought to dismiss those charges, arguing the deaths were the result of a single incident and not separate crimes. Prosecutors got a superseding indictment charging Boylan with only one count.Then in 2022, Wu ruled the superseding indictment failed to specify that Boylan acted with gross negligence, saying that was a required element to prove the crime of seaman’s manslaughter. He dismissed that indictment, forcing prosecutors to go before a grand jury again.Boylan is now charged with one count of misconduct or neglect of ship officer. The single count means he faces only 10 years behind bars if convicted.He has pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing. His federal public defenders did not return The Associated Press' repeated requests for comment, and a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office declined to comment.Some of the dead were wearing shoes, prompting investigators to believe they were awake and trying to escape. Both exits from the below-deck bunkroom were blocked by flames. Coroner’s reports list smoke inhalation as the cause of death, though official autopsies were never conducted.What exactly started the predawn fire remains unknown. Early official scrutiny appeared to focus on a spot where divers plugged in phones and other electronics. But a Los Angeles Times story, citing a confidential report by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said the blaze began in a plastic trash can on the main deck though an official cause remains undetermined. Boylan and four crew members sleeping in the upper deck told investigators they tried to save the others but were ultimately forced to jump overboard to survive. Boylan made a mayday call at 3:14 a.m. just before abandoning ship.Dozens of family members have since formed “Advocacy34” to push for strengthened boating regulations. While seeking answers, they’ve comforted each other during loved ones’ missed birthdays and mourned each anniversary.“We have no idea when we’ll get those answers, or if we ever will,” McIlvain said.At the time of the fire, no owner, operator or charterer had been cited or fined for failure to post a roving patrol since 1991, Coast Guard records showed.The NTSB faulted the Coast Guard for not enforcing that requirement and recommended it develop a program to ensure boats with overnight passengers actually have the watchman.The Coast Guard has since enacted new regulations regarding fire detection systems, extinguishers, escape routes and other safety measures as mandated by Congress. But it has yet to implement a comprehensive safety management system after industry advocates pushed back, citing costs.Victims' families have sued the Coast Guard in one of several ongoing civil suits.Three days after the inferno, Truth Aquatics Inc., which belongs to the Conception’s owners, Glen and Dana Fritzler, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles under a pre-Civil War provision of maritime law that allows it to limit its liability to the remains of the boat, which was a total loss. The time-tested legal maneuver has been successfully employed by the owners of the Titanic and other vessels, and requires the Fritzlers show they were not at fault.The couple's attorneys did not respond to requests for comment.In response to the families' outcry, federal lawmakers last year updated the Limitation of Liability Act of 1851 so owners can be held liable for damages regardless of the boat’s value afterward. The law is not retroactive, however, and will not apply in the case of the Conception.。
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