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Alec Baldwin is going back to court.
Variety and People reported Friday that a Los Angeles Superior Court Judge has ruled a civil lawsuit filed by a “Rust” crew member can proceed to trial. Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins died in October 2021 after a gun Baldwin was holding fired.
“A reasonable jury could find that Mr. Baldwin recklessly disregarded the probability that pointing a gun in the direction of someone, with the finger on the trigger, would cause emotional distress,” the judge wrote in the filing, obtained by Variety.
Fox News Digital reached out to Baldwin’s representatives for comment.
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A civil case against Alec Baldwin is heading to court. (Eddie Moore / Journal/Pool via REUTERS)
While the “30 Rock” actor originally faced criminal charges, a Santa Fe judge dismissed Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter charge with prejudice in July 2024.
Serge Svetnoy initially sued Baldwin back in 2021, less than a month after Hutchins’ death.
“Simply put, there was no reason for a live bullet to be placed in that .45 Colt revolver or to be present anywhere on the Rust set, and the presence of a bullet in a revolver posed a lethal threat to everyone in its vicinity,” his lawsuit read at the time.
Svetnoy was standing behind the monitor and about six to seven feet away as Baldwin rehearsed the scene the crew was about to film. Baldwin had been practicing a cross-draw maneuver when the gun fired.
Alec Baldwin spotted on the “Rust” set holding a rifle by the barrel as he returned to filming after the fatal shooting of Halyna Hutchins. (Reuters)
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Svetnoy, the film’s gaffer, spent the next 20 to 30 minutes rendering aid to Hutchins after realizing the cinematographer had been shot. It wasn’t until after the paramedics took over that Svetnoy understood the gravity of the situation.
“He realized that he had been squarely in the zone of danger posed by the loaded weapon in Defendant Baldwin’s hand, and what he felt pass by him from the discharge of the Colt Revolver was not mere pressurized air,” the civil lawsuit read. “But for an inch or two, possibly less, that bullet could have ended his life.”
Aerial photo from Bonanza Creek Ranch in New Mexico shows the church where actor Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun. (Associated Press)
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Alec Baldwin finished filming “Rust,” which was released in November 2024. (Alberto E. Rodriguez)
According to Svetnoy’s lawsuit, Baldwin was not supposed to be firing a gun in the scene they filmed on that fateful October day.
“The scene did not call for Defendant Baldwin to shoot the Colt Revolver, which should not have contained any live ammunition,” the lawsuit said.
Baldwin has maintained in multiple interviews he did not pull the trigger of the gun. The actor described the moment the gun was discharged during a TV appearance in December 2021, months after the fatal shooting.
Svetnoy was not injured in the shooting.
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