A lawyer representing the family of Halyna Hutchins has branded Alec Baldwin's attempt to protect himself from liability over the cinematographer's death as 'shameful'.
The attorney representing Hutchins' estate was responding to Baldwin's effort to invoke a 'legal indemnity' clause in his Rust contract that would effectively release him from any responsibility in her death, and could also see his legal bills paid.
Baldwin was holding the gun that went off and killed Hutchins on the set of the western film last year. The actor has denied pulling the trigger and has repeatedly said he feels he bears no responsibility for Hutchins' death.
Now, less than a month after Hutchins' husband filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Baldwin, he is seeking to formally protect himself from the growing legal actions surrounding the tragic incident, provoking outrage from lawyers representing the Hutchins family.
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'Alec Baldwin once again is trying to avoid liability and accountability for his reckless actions before and on Oct 21st that resulted in the death of Halyna Hutchins,' the attorneys said in a statement, per Deadline.
'It is shameful that Baldwin claims Hutchins’ actions in filing a wrongful death lawsuit derailed the completion of Rust. The only action that ended the film’s production was Baldwin’s killing of Halyna Hutchins.'
The statement refers to claims made in Baldwin's recent court filings that he had attempted to restart production on Rust, having reportedly believed that it should be completed as a tribute to the cinematographer and her family.
Those plans reportedly failed to gain any traction, with the film now having been shelved indefinitely.
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In new court filings, lawyers for Baldwin wrote, 'At this point, two things are clear: someone is culpable for chambering the live round that led to this horrific tragedy, and it is someone other than Baldwin.'
The filings then go on to imply that the blame for the incident lay with other members of the crew responsible for firearm safety, saying, 'Baldwin is an actor. He didn’t announce that the gun was “cold” when it really contained a live round; he didn’t load the gun; he didn’t check the bullets in the gun; he didn’t purchase the bullets; he didn’t make the bullets and represent that they were dummies; he wasn’t in charge of firearm safety on the set; he didn’t hire the people who supplied the bullets or checked the gun; and he played no role in managing the movie’s props. Each of those jobs was performed by someone else.'
An investigation into Hutchins' death is still ongoing.
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Topics: Alec Baldwin, Film and TV