How a Kennedy Got Caught Up in Alec Baldwin’s Involuntary Manslaughter ‘Rust’ Case

Alec Baldwin’s ongoing Rust criminal case has a surprising new participant: Rory Kennedy.

The daughter of late U.S. senator Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy is a documentary filmmaker who has been working on a project regarding Baldwin, 66, and the 2021 accidental on-set shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

While Baldwin’s lawyers filed additional motions to have the case dismissed in a New Mexico court on May 6, Kennedy, 55, is fighting a subpoena issued on April 19 seeking access to footage or audio in which Baldwin or anyone else discussed the incident or the subsequent criminal investigation into Hutchins’ death.

According to Variety, Kennedy’s lawyers argued that the subpoena would prove burdensome to comply with and described it as a “fishing expedition” in a response filed on May 7. Her attorneys also argued that her footage’s value could be destroyed if it were turned over to prosecutors and then displayed publicly at trial, the outlet reported.

Special prosecutors Kari T. Morrissey and Erlinda O. Johnson previously rescinded an offer for a plea deal made to Baldwin in October 2023 in part because they claimed they learned he was working on a documentary about Hutchins and was seeking to interview material witnesses.

In an affidavit Kennedy included as part of her response to the subpoena, she stated that Baldwin “did not commission, solicit, encourage, or otherwise seek out” the documentary she is producing, according to Variety.

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While Baldwin did sign an exclusivity agreement related to his participation in the film as an interview subject and may consult regarding its factual accuracy, Kennedy stated the actor “has no creative or editorial control” over the film, the outlet reported.

Baldwin’s attorneys argued in their latest motion to dismiss the involuntary manslaughter charge against him that the actor has been deprived of a fair trial because FBI agents destroyed the firearm at the center of the case “without documenting the original condition of its internal components.”

Baldwin maintains he did not pull the trigger in the incident that killed cinematographer Hutchins. Without documentation of the firearms’ state prior to its destruction, his attorneys argued, it is now “impossible to prove its original state with certainty.”

The actor is currently expected to go to trial in July; a hearing related to his attorneys’ motion to throw out his indictment is scheduled for Friday, May 17.