Baldwin partly blames victim for shooting

In a demand for arbitration and request for indemnification Friday, Alec Baldwin's lawyer said a cinematographer killed in October on the set of a western the actor was filming in New Mexico is at least partially to blame for her death.

The filing, by Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP partner Luke Nikas, also contains Baldwin's most comprehensive accounting of what happened on the New Mexico set of the film on Oct. 21 when cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed and director Joel Souza was injured. The filing also disclosed text messages between Baldwin and Hutchins' husband, Latham & Watkins LLP attorney Matthew Hutchins, that grew increasingly acrimonious before the lawsuit was filed. Matthew Hutchins v. Alexander R. Baldwin, D-101-CV-2022-00244, S.F. DC (filed Feb. 15, 2022)

"Halyna Hutchins's death is an unthinkable tragedy," the filing states. "Perhaps billions of rounds have been fired from guns on film and television sets over the past 75 years, without incident. Only a few -- in the single digits -- have resulted in fatal injury."

Brian Panish, the lawyer for Hutchins' family, immediately denounced the filing.

"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, as demonstrated by today's arbitration demand for indemnification from the Rust production company," Panish said in a statement. "Baldwin's disclosure of personal texts with Matt Hutchins is irrelevant to his demand for arbitration and fails to demonstrate anything other than Hutchins' dignity in his engagement with Baldwin."

Hutchins was shot as she prepared to film a scene in which Baldwin fires a weapon. Baldwin has repeatedly denied pulling the trigger.

According to Friday's filing, during a scene setup Baldwin asked Hutchins if he should cock the gun and she told him yes. The actor tipped the gun down somewhat so that the lens of the camera could focus on his hand's action on the top of the gun. While performing this action, Baldwin asked Hutchins, "Am I holding it too far down?" and "Do you see that?" Hutchins responded she could see Baldwin's action from her angle, the filing states.

Baldwin then pulled back the hammer, but not far enough to actually cock the gun. When Baldwin let go of the hammer, the gun went off, the filing states.

The filing states that Baldwin attended a training session with the film's armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, when he arrived on the New Mexico set and that he understood from that session that he did not need to check the gun for live ammunition.

"Reed did not instruct Baldwin to check the gun himself. In fact, she told Baldwin that it was her job to check the gun -- not his," according to the filing. "Similarly, Baldwin believed, based on prior gun safety training he received on movie sets, that actors should not unilaterally check guns for live ammunition. If actors want to check a gun for their own peace of mind, they should only check the gun with the armorer closely supervising the process. In other words, actors may jointly inspect a gun with the armorer, but never on their own."

A request for comment from Jason Bowles, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed's attorney, went unanswered.

"As he had done throughout his career, Baldwin trusted the other professionals on the set to do their jobs," the filing stated. "Until October 21, Baldwin had never been involved in a breach of safety on the set of any movie or film."

Former federal prosecutor and president of West Coast Trial Lawyers, Neama Rahmani said

"Baldwin's legal team is arguing that the production company agreed to accept financial responsibility in an indemnification provision of his contract."

"Indemnification provisions are generally upheld by arbitrators," Rahmani said.

"This latest filing says that Halyna Hutchins specifically asked Baldwin to point the gun at her and pull back the hammer. Baldwin is making the point that Halyna Hutchins has some comparative fault or contributory negligence," Rahmani added. "Even though Hutchins is a victim, this filing is trying to establish that if she is found to be partially at fault, her damages will be reduced by her percentage of fault."

Beverly Hills entertainment attorney Mitra Ahouraian said it would be difficult for anyone to prove Baldwin was grossly negligent. "Baldwin reasonably relied on the people whose job it was to make sure the gun was safe," Ahouraian said. "It wasn't his job to check the gun was safe and he had no expectation of there being live rounds on set."

In the arbitration demand Baldwin claims to have attempted to complete the filming of "Rust", however those plans were sidelined as a result of the lawsuits filed in the case including the wrongful death suit filed by Matthew Hutchins..

"It is shameful that Baldwin claims Hutchins' actions in filing a wrongful death lawsuit derailed the completion of "Rust," said Panish, of Brian Panish of Panish Shea Boyle Ravipudi LLP. "The only action that ended the film's production was Baldwin's killing of Halyna Hutchins."

No criminal charges have been filed against Baldwin or anyone else in relation to the incident, although the sheriff in Santa Fe is still continuing to investigate the matter.