make an appointment to ask your doctor for first sika for chronic kidney disease. if you can t afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. prosecutors announcing that alec baldwin will be cleared of involuntary manslaughter charges in the fatal shooting of the on the rust movie set, a source tells cnn. the decision was made after new evidence emerged that indicated the gun used in the shooting had been modified. helena hutchins, the film cinematographer, was killed by a live round fired from a prop gun held by baldwin while rehearsing a scene in 2021. the film s armorer hannah gutierrez read was also charged with involuntary manslaughter. the charges against her remain in place. baldwin posting on instagram after the announcement, thanking his wife and attorney as part of a wrongful death settlement with hutchins husband production on rust has resumed filming began today at the yellowstone film
good day, everyone. i m andrea mitchell in washington. following the stunning breaking news from new mexico. the state district attorney announcing criminal charges against actor alec baldwin and the armorer hannah gutierrez for their roles in the death of the cinematographer during the filming of rust in 2021. joining me now for the latest legal analysis, vaughn hillyard, andrew weissmann and danny cervalis. what are you hearing, vaughn, with all this breaking news? reporter: these are serious charges that have been levied against not only alec baldwin but hannah gutierrez. in the case of alec baldwin, there are two counts. the first is up to 18 months in jail. that second count, because he is the individual who handled and
hannah who loaded the firearm with bullets. she did not realize there was live ammunition on set. there should not have been live ammunition on set. yet, she handed it to the first assistant director who said the gun was cold. then handed it to alec baldwin who pointed it with clear negligence, handed it and ultimately was the one who fired the gun that killed halyna hutchins. danny, how do you see defense shaping up here? conventional wisdom was baldwin would not be charged. if he were, he could be acquitted. how do you explain the decision by prosecutors to level these charges against him? i think it s a stumble by the state to charge alec baldwin. here is why. the only option was ever involuntary manslaughter. all sides agree that baldwin didn t intentionally shoot anyone. when you look at new mexico s involuntary manslaughter
awaiting the sheriff s department to comment. he it s unknown when the filming of the film will resume and he wants to work in the future to make sets safer, using fake guns or no live ammunition. the armorer hannah gutierrez released a statement saying she has no idea how a live round got on set and that safety is her top priority. the sheriff would like to do follow-up to clarify some of those statement. a major test for the u.s. air force as the service closes in on a deadline for a vaccine
address issues in my department, that s your job as the key for your department. my job on set is to be in charge of safety on set. when i see things, i m going to say something. and i also learned that was hannah s first film. so help us understand, you say there were previous discharges. is it normal for there to be at least one discharge when you re talking about firearms? is that something that people are accustomed to or does that raise a flag right away that there should be never a moment of discharges? yeah, you know, there s protocols on movie sets. we do this for the safety of everybody. you re working very fast, you ve got hundreds of people doing different jobs. we have protocols in place for people s safety. were those protocols broken? absolutely. it s not normal for a gun to be on set, to be fired, even in a test firing situation. people stop working, we announce