FOG BLOG U.S. NEWS LOG: ALEC BALDWIN & ONE OTHER TO BE CHARGED IN 'RUST' SHOOTING- DIFFICULT CASE!

Alec Baldwin to be charged in fatal 'Rust' shooting Why the "Rust" shooting is a "really difficult case" for prosecutors, according to CNN legal analyst CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig said the "Rust" fatal shooting case is not clear-cut negligence and includes factual issues.

First of all, Honig said, New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies told CNN that she doesn't know — and "we might not ever know" — how live rounds got onto the set.

"That's a major factual issue. The defense lawyer is going to stand in front of a jury someday and say, 'They want you to convict my client and they can't even tell you how those live rounds got there,'" Honig told CNN's Victor Blackwell and Alisyn Camerota.

Secondly, the incident happened on a movie set, and "most normal people do not know what the norms are on a movie set," he said.

So the expertise of prop masters are heavily relied upon, but even those experts have different views on what the obligations of actors and crew members are on set, Honig said.

"Remember, this is a criminal case. You need all 12 jurors to find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. So I'm not saying that there's no chance here, but this is a really difficult case for the prosecution," he added.

Honig also said he was "stunned" that the district attorney decided to charge Alec Baldwin as both an actor and producer. "Those are completely different factual and legal scenarios," Honig said. "The question about a producer — that gets into the questions of what exactly was Alec Baldwin's job, what were his responsibilities as it relates to the many other directors, producers, professionals on that set — and look, sometimes people are producers in name ... but are not actually in charge of things in a hands-on way," he continued. "All of these are complex factual issues. ... This is not a civil proceeding. This is a criminal proceeding. There is the highest burden in our legal system on prosecutors. They have to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt and unanimously to the jury. It's never easy, and I think it's going to be particularly difficult here," he added. Actor Alec Baldwin and his legal team feel "blindsided" by today's charges, his attorney Luke Nikas told CNN in a statement Thursday.

They were not given any indication Baldwin would face criminal charges and say they "learned of the charges in the media," according to Nikas.

In her first televised interview after announcing the charging decisions, New Mexico’s First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies told CNN’s Josh Campbell her office was in “almost constant contact” with the opposing parties' attorneys “for about the last six weeks.”

“They didn’t know exactly what was coming, but they were aware that we were contemplating charges and they were aware of what the contemplated charges were,” she said.

Earlier Thursday, Nikas said the decision to charge "distorts Halyna Hutchins’ tragic death and represents a terrible miscarriage of justice."

“Mr. Baldwin had no reason to believe there was a live bullet in the gun — or anywhere on the movie set. He relied on the professionals with whom he worked, who assured him the gun did not have live rounds. We will fight these charges, and we will win,” Nikas said.