After the tragic accident on the set of the western “Rust”, assistant director Dave Halls (63) has now been sentenced to a six-month suspended sentence. This is reported, among other things, by the US broadcaster ABC on its website. It was Halls who handed the gun to Alec Baldwin, 64, before the shot that killed camerawoman Halyna Hutchins (1979-2021) went off. The Santa Fe, New Mexico court ruled that Halls displayed “careless handling of a deadly weapon.” In addition to the suspended sentence, he was sentenced to a $500 fine, an additional 24 hours of community service and to stand by as a witness at other trials in the case.
Halls pleaded guilty before the verdict. The security coordinator is the first suspect to face final convictions for the tragic moments on the set of the Alec Baldwin film. Baldwin shot and killed Hutchins during a film rehearsal in October 2021. Halls had handed him the revolver, which should have been checked and fitted with blank cartridges by armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed (25). But Halls should also have checked the bullets before handing Baldwin the edged weapon, the court said.
Prosecutors pleaded that the assistant director was the “last line of defense” and was therefore responsible. However, Halls did not check every bullet in the revolver’s cylinder, which is why he was partly responsible for Hutchin’s death. Regarding the allegations, Hall’s lawyer said: “He [Halls, editor’s note], like many others, is extremely traumatized and is wracked with guilt and many other emotions.” His client would constantly ask himself, “What could I have done better? How could I have changed things?”
