Why wasn't anyone criminally charged in Brandon Lee's death? Those involved look back

One reason for the shock, horror and 24/7 media coverage of the Oct. 21 accidental shooting death on the set of "Rust" in New Mexico is that such on-set tragedies are rare: The last one was nearly 30 years ago, and the one before that was in 1984.

Yet some of the details in the 1993 shooting death of actor Brandon Lee on the set of "The Crow" in Wilmington, N.C., echo across the decades to Santa Fe, N.M., where "Rust" cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed and director Joel Souza was wounded by a gun fired by star and co-producer Alec Baldwin.

The guns in both cases were real and functional, but different makes. In both cases, the guns fired lead projectiles, unbeknownst to the actors and crew. In both cases, the guns were not properly checked before their use.

Most alarming, live ammunition was not supposed to be on either set under industry and labor contract rules. Nevertheless it was – and ended up killing someone.

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Rising star Lee, the son of actor Bruce Lee, was 28 at the time and about to get married. At 42, Hutchins, the mother of a young son, was an up-and-coming star in her field of cinematography.

"So unnecessary," lamented the former district attorney in Wilmington Jerry Spivey, who supervised the investigation of the Lee case.

And so infrequent, say others involved in the case.

"In the course of those nearly 30 years, there have been thousands of movies involving gun play of one sort of another, and hundreds of thousands of shots fired, so really this is a very, very rare event," says James Janowitz, the New York lawyer who led the defense of the producers of "The Crow" in a subsequent civil lawsuit.

One difference between then and now: Baldwin is a bigger, more controversial star than the actor who fired the weapon that killed Lee, Michael Massee, then 41, a veteran character actor who died of stomach cancer at age 64 in 2016.

The gun Masse fired in a scene was supposed to contain blanks but unbeknownst to anyone, the gun's barrel contained a fragment of a lead bullet left over from an earlier scene.

'Rust' shooting investigation: Halyna Hutchins' husband hires wrongful death attorney

Massee was devastated by the tragedy, he said in a 2005 interview with "Extra." He took a year off from acting and never saw "The Crow," which resumed production after Lee's death and was released in May 1994 to good reviews and nearly $95 million at the global box office.

"I don't think you ever get over something like that," Massee said.

After 1993, it wasn't supposed to happen again, says Spivey, in an interview with USA TODAY. After the investigation, he decided not to file criminal charges in the case.

“The hope was no person would ever again be killed on a movie set by a gun thought to be safe," he said. "That’s been the case until now. You have to go back to the hard and fast rule of no live ammunition on any movie set. Ever.”

As Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza pointed out at a press conference Wednesday, Hollywood has had "a record recently of being safe."

But the "Rust" set has been dogged by reports of a partial crew walkout over workplace complaints and safety issues, just hours before the accidental shooting.

"I think there was some complacency on this set and I think there are some safety issues that need to be addressed by the industry and possibly by the state of New Mexico," Mendoza said.

The full picture of what happened at the Bonanza Creek Ranch film set on Oct. 21 is still to be determined, but Mendoza was certain of some facts: Hundreds of rounds were recovered on the set, a mixture of blanks, dummy rounds and what he called "suspected" live rounds.

"A weapon was handed to Mr. Baldwin. The weapon is functional, and fired a live round, killing Ms, Hutchins and injuring Mr. Souza," Mendoza said.

It's too early to say whether any criminal charges will be filed against anyone, including Baldwin or the crew members who were supposed to check the gun, District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said Wednesday. But she would not rule it out. "All options are on the table at this point," she said.

What happened on set with Brandon Lee?

The details of what happened on the set of "The Crow," are better known but complicated. Spivey described the Lee shooting as the result of a string of negligent acts by multiple people on the film set.

More: Alec Baldwin says he's cooperating with police after prop gun shooting that killed one

Lee was killed by a fragmented .44-caliber bullet left in the barrel of a .44 Magnum pistol used in an earlier scene. Later, the gun was loaded with blanks, hastily made by a crew member from live bullets with the gun powder removed, Spivey said. One of those blanks still had a little gun powder left in the cartridge, Janowitz said.

But the gun was not checked before it was used in the scene with Lee. When it was fired, the bullet fragment exploded out of the barrel and struck Lee at close range.

"It was a very bizarre accident," Janowitz said in an interview with USA TODAY. He said he, too, conducted a thorough investigation of the Lee shooting as part of his defense of the liable production company backing "The Crow," the Edward R. Pressman Film Corp.

North Carolina law requires criminal negligence to be “willful and wanton” and Spivey said at the time he could find no evidence of that during the investigation.

“Who are you going to charge? The guy who made the blanks? The guy who allowed live ammo to be on set? Who do you charge?” Spivey told USA TODAY. “There was a lot of negligence on the part of a lot of people, and that’s why we decided there was no basis for a criminal charge.”

Janowitz, the lawyer for the film's producer, said he was not surprised at Spivey's decision given the lack of evidence of criminal intent. The odd nature of the accident "contributed to an understanding that no one (on the set) could have had criminal intent," he said.

Spivey said there was no outrage in his community when he decided not to press charges, nor pushback even from Lee’s family and friends. There was some media coverage dedicated to the case at the time, he said, but not the same level, nor the social media coverage, now aimed at the “Rust” tragedy.

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“The key is there has to be a complete and totally transparent investigation and let the public know the facts,” Spivey said. And the movie industry, he said, is going to have to do a better job of policing itself in adhering to the “hard and fast” rules it supposedly lives by.

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham told the Los Angeles Times Tuesday that she will pursue state legislation regarding safety protocols on film sets if Hollywood fails to act. A California state senator also called for a ban on live ammunition on movie sets and in theatrical productions. But legislation enacted in one state alone would not have effect in the rest of the states.

What was the legal fallout in Brandon Lee's case?

Six months after Lee’s death, the actor's mother Linda Lee Cadwell filed a lawsuit naming Pressman and 13 other corporations and individuals, alleging their negligence resulted in her son’s “agonizing pain, suffering and untimely death.” Two months later, the lawsuit, which also covered Lee’s fiancé, Eliza Hutton, was settled for an undisclosed amount.

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Janowitz said the producers of "The Crow" could have canned the film and not released it (the film was insured), but the filmmakers felt that would add further to the sadness, because Lee's outstanding performance would not be seen. His family thought the same, Janowitz said, which was one of the reasons the lawsuit was settled so quickly.

"In this terrible tragedy, it was the best thing that could have been done, because this was a very successful film and Brandon Lee's performance was widely praised," Janowitz said.

The "Rust" shooting thrust Lee's fiancé Hutton once again in the spotlight over a gun-related set death. She spoke out about the "Rust" tragedy on Oct. 25, urging reform.

"Twenty eight years ago, I was shattered by the shock and grief of losing the love of my life, Brandon Lee, so senselessly," Hutton told People. "My heart aches again now for Halyna Hutchins' husband and son, and for all those left in the wake of this avoidable tragedy…I urge those in positions to make change to consider alternatives to real guns on sets."

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Alec Baldwin 'Rust' set shooting brings questions about Brandon Lee