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 New Mexico authorities have not
ruled out criminal charges in the case. While
rehearsing a scene on the movie set, Baldwin
accidentally fired a gun that he had been told
was safe. The shot killed Hutchins and injured
director Joel Souza.
COULD THERE BE CRIMINAL CHARGES?
Experts said criminal charges are possible,
though likely not against Baldwin.
"For a criminal case, you're going to need some
sort of actual intent, or criminal negligence,
gross negligence. That's ... something more than
pointing the gun," said former federal
prosecutor Neama Rahmani in Los Angeles.
The criminal investigation will likely focus
instead on how the gun came to be loaded. "I
think having live ballistic rounds on a movie
set is inexcusable and rises to the level of
gross negligence that you see in a criminal
charge," said lawyer Jeff Harris of Harris Lowry
Manton.
WHAT COULD THE GROUNDS FOR LAWSUITS BE?
Hutchins' family and Souza could file civil
lawsuits for financial damages, legal experts
said.
These lawsuits would most likely argue
negligence, legally defined as a failure to
exercise a reasonable level of care.
Such claims got a boost from the revelation by
Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza on
Wednesday that the gun handed to Baldwin
contained a live round despite having been
inspected and declared safe by two people,
armorer Hannah Gutierrez and assistant director
David Halls, and that other live rounds were
found on the set.
"It's pretty obvious; somebody had to be
negligent," said University of Southern
California law professor Gregory Keating.
WHO COULD BE SUED?
Harris, who represented the family of a stuntman
on AMC's "The Walking Dead" in a wrongful death
case, said both Gutierrez and Halls could be
sued. Bryan Sullivan of Early Sullivan, a Los
Angeles entertainment attorney, agreed.
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 Harris said the "Rust"
production company, people in supervisory roles
and people involved in hiring decisions could
also be targeted.
Allocating liability could take years of
litigation. The outcome would determine who
might have to pay financial damages and how
much. "It's very common to have
multiple defendants whose negligence
intermingles with each other," Harris said.
Baldwin probably will not be held civilly liable
for firing the gun after being told it was safe.
However, he could face liability as one of the
film's producers, said Sullivan.
A court "would look at who had ultimate
authority to ensure the safety of the set," he
said.
WHAT ARE THE OBSTACLES TO DAMAGE CLAIMS?
Defendants in a civil lawsuit would likely argue
the shooting was a workplace accident, meaning
that the victims could only seek payment through
workers' compensation insurance.
However, University of New Mexico School of Law
professor Sonia Gipson Rankin said the victims
could seek to prove that defendants had ignored
safety concerns in the past and were knowingly
acting in a dangerous way.
If successful, the victims might be able to seek
damages in court, rather than through workers'
compensation.
(Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York;
Additional reporting by Nate Raymond, Editing by
Alexia Garamfalvi and Cynthia Osterman)
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