DA: Alec Baldwin ‘Rust’ Settlement Won’t Derail Criminal Probe

Actor Alec Baldwin may have settled the wrongful death lawsuit with Matthew Hutchins, but officials say that will have no bearing on up to four possible criminal cases that could still be brought against him and others.

Hutchins, whose wife Halyna Hutchins was fatally shot on the set of his film “Rust,” settled with Baldwin and others from the movie’s set — and reports circulated early on Wednesday that Hutchins was stepping in as the new executive producer.

But the office of New Mexico’s First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said that no settlement would influence her decision to pursue criminal charges, should she feel that they were warranted once the sheriff’s department provided a full report of their investigation.

“The proposed settlement announced today in Matthew Hutchins’ wrongful death case against Rust movie producers, including Alec Baldwin, in the death of Halyna Hutchins will have no impact on District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies’ ongoing investigation or her ultimate decision whether to file criminal charges in the case,” a statement from the DA’s office provided to TMZ read.

“While civil suits are settled privately and often involve financial awards, criminal cases deal only in facts. If the facts and evidence warrant criminal charges under New Mexico law then charges will be brought. No one is above the law,” it concluded.

Carmack-Altwies filed an emergency request in late September with the New Mexico Board of Finance — asking for $635,000 to support “up to four possible criminal cases” that she indicated could arise out of the ongoing investigation.

The Board of Finance approved half of the amount she requested — $317,000 — which she said would be used to fund a special prosecutor, special investigator, experts and others who could be necessary for up to four individual jury trials. Carmack-Altwies said that she would be “requesting special appropriation” in order to make up the difference in funding.

“One of the possible defendants is well known movie actor Alec Baldwin,” Carmack-Altwies said. She did not specifically name any other members of the cast or crew who may still be under investigation, but she did list a number of possible charges, saying that her office was “certainly looking at all the homicide statutes and any gun statutes under New Mexico criminal code.”