Judge seals Alec Baldwin settlement terms in fatal shooting

April 17, 2023  -SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The judge hearing the wrongful death lawsuit against actor Alec Baldwin and an array of producers and crew linked to a fatal film set shooting agreed Monday to seal from public view the terms of a proposed settlement agreement in the case that benefits the son of slain cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

The New Mexico judge said the right to privacy for Hutchins’ 10-year-old son overrides obligations for public disclosure and ordered that settlement documents and approval hearings be sealed in the civil lawsuit that argues that Baldwin and other film crewmembers ignored industry gun safety standards on the set of the Western film “Rust” ahead of the 2021 shooting.

“What is driving my decision is really the interests of the minor child. And that is one of the very most powerful reasons to seal a matter,” District Court Judge Bryan Biedscheid said in a videoconference hearing of the Santa Fe-based court.