Alec Baldwin is reportedly seeking to dismiss a grand jury indictment against him for the killing of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust.
The disgraced actor’s legal team argued that the state of New Mexico, where the tragic incident took place, has violated “nearly every rule in the book” when attempting to get Baldwin convicted for the killing of the cinematographer, and accusing prosecutors of “unfairly stacking the deck.”
“Enough is enough. This is an abuse of the system and an abuse of an innocent person whose rights have been trampled to the extreme,” Baldwin’s attorneys declared in a court filing obtained by BBC News, also arguing that the prosecution whitheld “substantial exculpatory and favourable evidence” from the grand jury.
In a separate trial, Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who was also hit with involuntary manslaughter charges for the killing of Hutchins, was convicted by a jury on the 7th of March in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and was reportedly placed into custody of deputies, the Associated Press reported at the time.
Much like Gutierrez-Reed, were Baldwin to be convicted, the actor faces up to 18 months in prison and would be ordered to pay a $5,000 fine. The actor’s trial is set for the 10th of July in New Mexico.
Baldwin was criminally charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter on the 31st of January, 2023. Per a statement of probable cause, prosecutors wrote that the actor “was provided only minimal training on firearms, even after [Gutierrez-Reed] requested more training for Baldwin.”
The document also points out that “information and evidence is provided in further support of probable cause of the enumerated crime (s) committed by Baldwin,” reiterating that the actor “was not present for required firearms training prior to the commencement of filming.”
“Baldwin directly pointed a firearm at Hutchins and Souza,” the document further notes. “Whether guided by her directions or not, Baldwin knew the first rule of gun safety is never point a gun at someone you don’t intend on shooting. In addition, always assume a gun is loaded.”
The statement then adds, “This reckless deviation from known standards and practice and protocol directly caused the fatal shooting. By not receiving the required training on firearms, deviating from the required duties of checking the firearm with the armorer, letting the armorer leave the church against protocol, deviating from the practice of only accepting the firearm from the armorer, not dealing with safety complaints on the set, not making sure the protocol of safety meetings was occurring, putting his finger on the trigger of a real gun, not using a replica firearm for the unscheduled rehearsal, pointing the gun at Hutchins and Souza, and the overall handling of the firearm in a negligent manner, Baldwin acted with willful disregard of the safety of others and in a manner which endangered other people.”
Just a month later, in February of 2023, prosecutors downgraded Baldwin’s charges, which would’ve seen the actor facing five-year minimum sentence to 18th months in prison and the aforementioned $5,000 fine, only for prosecutors to drop the involuntary manslaughter charges in April.
Seeking to hold him accountable for the killing of Hutchins and injuring of Souza, the New Mexico grand jury opted to charge Baldwin with involuntary manslaughter charges yet again on Friday the 19th of January, 2024. For the second time since the tragic on-set shooting, Baldwin pleaded not guilty to the new charges filed against him.
