Alec Baldwin pleads not guilty to manslaughter following fatal shooting

Alec Baldwin has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter after a 2021 fatal shooting during a rehearsal on a movie set in New Mexico.

The US actor also filed a waiver of arraignment opting to plead not guilty a day before a scheduled court appearance in the First Judicial District Court of Santa Fe, New Mexico, which will now not take place.

In court documents, he said: "I plea not guilty to all of the charges in the complaint or citation."

Under the terms of his release, Baldwin cannot possess firearms or drink alcohol, and he cannot leave the US without written consent from the court.

The terms also forbid him from having contact with witnesses in the case, except for business reasons related to the release of the film, and he cannot solicit witnesses to participate in a documentary about the making of the film.

Baldwin, the lead actor and a co-producer on the Western movie Rust, was pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal on a movie set outside Santa Fe in October 2021 when the gun went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza.

Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer, but not the trigger, and the gun fired.

He was initially charged in January last year, but those charges were formally dismissed three months later.

Earlier in January 2024, special prosecutors brought the case before a grand jury in Santa Fe, after receiving a new analysis of the gun, and Baldwin was re-charged.

Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the film's armourer, has previously pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter and evidence tampering, and is set to go on trial on February 21.

The filming of Rust resumed last year in Montana, under an agreement with the cinematographer’s widower Matthew Hutchins, that made him an executive producer.

For more arts and entertainment news, listen to our podcast Unscripted...