New Mexico
New Mexico Denies Film Incentive Application on Alec Baldwin’s ‘Rust’ Movie After Fatal Shooting
Producers of the western movie Rust may have to forgo a robust economic incentive as they try to sell the film to distributors and fulfill financial obligations to the immediate family of a cinematographer who was fatally shot by Alec Baldwin during rehearsal in 2021.
New Mexico tax authorities denied an application this spring by Rust Movie Productions for incentives worth as much as $1.6 million, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. A late July deadline for producers to appeal the decision is approaching.
Meanwhile, Baldwin is scheduled to go on trial starting next week on an involuntary manslaughter charge in Halyna Hutchins’ death. The lead actor and co-producer of Rust was pointing a gun at Hutchins when it went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza.
Melina Spadone, an attorney representing the production company, said the film production tax incentive was going to be used to finance a legal settlement between producers and Hutchins’ widower and son.
“The denial of the tax credit has disrupted those financial arrangements,” said Spadone, a New York- and Los Angeles-based senior counsel at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman. She helped broker the 2022 settlement that rebooted the stalled production of Rust in Montana with some of the original cast and crew, including Baldwin and Souza. Filming wrapped up last year.
Terms of the settlement are confidential, but producers say finishing the film was meant to honor Hutchins’ artistic vision and generate money for her young son.
Court documents indicate that settlement payments are up to a year late, as attorneys for Hutchins’ widower determine “next steps” that include whether to resume wrongful death litigation or initiate new claims. Legal representatives for Matthew Hutchins did not respond to telephone and email messages seeking comment.
The prosecution of Baldwin and the film’s tax incentive application both have financial implications for New Mexico taxpayers. The Santa Fe district attorney’s office says it spent $625,000 on Rust-related prosecution through the end of April.
The state’s film incentives program is among the most generous in the nation, offering a direct rebate of between 25% and 40% on an array of expenditures to entice movie projects, employment and infrastructure investments. As a percentage of the state budget, only Georgia pays out more in incentives.
It includes a one-time option to assign the payment to a financial institution. That lets producers use the rebate to underwrite production ahead of time, often layering rights to the rebate and future movie income into production loans.
Among the beneficiaries of the rebate program are the 2011 movie “Cowboys and Aliens” and the TV series “Better Call Saul,” a spinoff of “Breaking Bad.” As for current productions, New Mexico is the backdrop for a new film starring Matthew McConaughey and America Ferrera about the rescue of students in a 2018 wildfire in the town of Paradise — the most destructive in California’s history.
Charlie Moore, a spokesperson for the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department, declined to comment specifically on the Rust application, citing concerns about confidential taxpayer information. Applications are reviewed for a long list of accounting and claim requirements.
During a recent 12-month period, 56 film incentive applications were approved and 43 were partially or fully denied, Moore said.
Documents obtained by AP show the New Mexico Film Office issued a memo in January to Rust that approved eligibility to apply for the tax incentive, in a process that involves accounting ledgers, vetting against outstanding debts and an on-screen closing credit to New Mexico as a filming location. Taxation officials have final say on whether expenses are eligible.
Spadone, the attorney for Rust, said the denial of the application is “surprising” and could disrupt confidence in the tax program with a chilling effect on rebate-backed loans that propel the local film industry.
Alton Walpole, a production manager at Santa Fe-based Mountainair Films who was not involved in Rust, said he faults the movie’s creators for seemingly cutting corners on safety but officials have an obligation to review its tax credit application based on legal and accounting principles only — or risk losing major projects to other states. Movies are inherently dangerous even without firearms on set, he noted.
“They’re going to say, ‘Wait, are we going to New Mexico? They could deny the rebate,’” Walpole said. “They’re watching every penny.”
“Popular opinion? I’d say don’t give them the rebate. But legally, I think they qualified for it all,” he said.
At least 18 states have enacted measures to implement or expand film tax incentives since 2021, while some have gone in the opposite direction and sought to limit the transferability and refundability of credit.
Under Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, New Mexico has raised annual spending caps and expanded the film tax credit amid a multibillion-dollar surplus linked to record oil and natural gas production. Film rebate payouts were $100 million in the fiscal year ending in June 2023 and are expected to rise to nearly $272 million by 2027, according to tax agency records and the Legislature’s budget and accountability office.
Democratic state Sen. George Muñoz has criticized the incentive program and asked whether taxpayers should be responsible for unforeseen expenses.
“If we’re going to do tax credits and there’s a problem on the film or the set, do they really qualify or do they disqualify themselves?” said Muñoz, chairman of the lead Senate budget writing committee.
Rust does not yet have a U.S. distributor, as producers shop the newly completed movie at film festivals.
El Paso police seek suspect in East Side robbery, burglary
An unidentified man is suspected in an East Side robbery and a restaurant burglary on Oct. 20, 2025, in Crime Stoppers of El Paso’s Crime of the Week.
Provided by Crime Stoppers of El Paso
An Anthony, New Mexico man was sentenced to nearly two decades in federal prison for selling methamphetamine from a trailer on his parents’ property, authorities said.
A federal judge sentenced David Amaya, 43, to 19 years and seven months in prison on one count of possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine, New Mexico federal court records show. He was also sentenced to five years of supervised release after he serves his prison term.
U.S. District Judge Margaret I. Strickland handed down the sentence on Wednesday, Dec. 10, at the federal courthouse in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kirk Williams prosecuted the case.
Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico Ryan Ellison and FBI Albuquerque Field Office Special Agent in Charge Justin A. Garris announced Amaya’s sentencing in a joint news release.
Amaya pleaded guilty to the charge in September as part of a plea agreement that dismissed one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, court records show.
Anthony, New Mexico man sells meth on parents’ property
FBI agents began investigating Amaya after he sold methamphetamine to a “controlled buyer” in July and August 2024, the news release states. Controlled buys are when law enforcement uses an undercover agent or a witness to purchase drugs from a suspected drug dealer.
The agents obtained a search warrant on Aug. 22, 2024, for a “specific tow-behind type trailer that Amaya was known to be living in and conducting narcotics transfers out of,” a federal complaint affidavit states. The trailer was located on property owned by Amaya’s parents in Anthony, New Mexico, the news release states.
The trailer did not have a restroom, but agents found a small makeshift bathroom structure with a porta-potty inside next to the trailer. The agents then obtained a warrant to also search the small bathroom structure.
The agents found “a large quantity of white crystalline substance suspected to be methamphetamine” throughout the trailer and bathroom structure, the affidavit states. In the bathroom, agents found a clothing hamper with “a gallon zip lock bag full of suspected methamphetamine” hidden inside.
Agents found a black Ruger .357 caliber handgun containing five rounds of .357 caliber ammunition and a black Mossberg 500 E410 gauge shotgun on the bed inside the trailer, the affidavit states. The news release states agents found “hundreds of rounds of ammunition.”
They also found about 4.42 grams of methamphetamine on the bed and another 26 grams under the bed, the affidavit states. Agents found eight more grams of methamphetamine on a nightstand.
Amaya told agents during an interview that the methamphetamine was his, he had acquired it over a period of time, and did not realize how much it was, the affidavit states. He added he “needed the guns for protection, so people would know he has them, making him safer,” the affidavit states.
In total, the agents found 1,183 grams of methamphetamine.
Aaron Martinez covers the criminal justice system for the El Paso Times. He may be reached at amartinez1@elpasotimes.com.
GRANTS, N.M. – The City of Grants is canceling this year’s annual Christmas light parade, citing the safety of the public and their own officers.
Dozens of floats were supposed to roll down Santa Fe Avenue on Saturday night, but Grants police are holding off until next year after three incidents where someone shot at law enforcement officers.
“It was definitely a difficult decision, but due to the incident that took place on December 8, where law enforcement was shot at in the area of Santa Fe Avenue, we made that decision to protect the citizens of Grants,” says Grants Police Chief Maxine Monte.
She says a New Mexico State Police officer was shot at while making a traffic stop. The officer walked away uninjured, but this was too much for the chief.
“We’ve had three different incidents where law enforcement was shot at. One was May of 2025, the other one was August of 2025, and then the recent event of December 8 of 2025,” says Monte.
It’s not a risk the chief wants to take, and points out people would be standing exactly where the last shooting happened.
“We have a lot of citizens that attend our parade, and our main concern was that they were out in the open in the middle of the night, and in the same area that our latest shooting took place.”
Grant residents will be able to see the floats during the day on Saturday. But even some daylight isn’t convincing some residents.
“I’ll be staying home,” said Amy Brigdon. “There’s too many people in the world that want to see bad things happen to other people. I’m not one of them.”
Police still don’t have a suspect for this week’s attempted shooting. Anyone with information is asked to get in touch with the Grants Police Department.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife rereleased a wolf into Grand County this week after it had traveled into New Mexico, according to a news release.
The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish captured gray wolf 2403 and returned the animal to Colorado.
Colorado wildlife officials decided to release the wolf in Grand County yesterday because of the proximity to “an unpaired female gray wolf,” nearby prey populations and distance from livestock, according to the release.
“Gray wolf 2403 has been returned to Colorado and released in a location where it can best contribute to CPW’s efforts to establish a self-sustaining wolf population while concurrently attempting to minimize potential wolf-related livestock conflicts,” said acting director of CPW Laura Clellan, according to the release.
The wolf was once a member of the Copper Creek pack but departed from it this fall.
A memorandum of understanding between Colorado and Arizona, New Mexico and Utah requires that any gray wolves that leave Colorado and enter those states be returned. That was created in part to maintain the integrity of a Mexican wolf recovery program.
“We recognized during the planning process that we would need to have consideration and plans to protect the genetic integrity of the Mexican wolf recovery program, while also establishing a gray wolf population in Colorado,” said CPW’s Wolf Conservation Program Manager Eric Odell, according to the release.
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