Alec Baldwin, charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of Halyna Hutchins in Rust, continues to fight to have the charges against him dismissed pending trial next July.
Actor Alec Baldwin has asked a court in Santa Fe (New Mexico), where he is accused of involuntary manslaughter, to dismiss the charges against him after the fatal shooting on the set of the movie Rust, which cost him his life to cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in 2021.
The interpreter, who continues to defend that he never pulled the trigger, presented two new petitions to have the accusation quashed, arguing that it is not legally justified because the FBI destroyed the evidence of the revolver during the investigation, causing him to not be able to prove "in any way." conclusive" his innocence.
"Given that the Prosecutor's Office does not even allege that Baldwin was aware at any level of the risk that the gun was loaded with live ammunition, he is legally innocent," reads one of the briefs that Baldwin's legal team provided to the court, as part of a 22-page long motion.
The brief, which emphasizes the absence of a crime to try to overturn the accusation, continues: "It cannot be said that Baldwin acted with criminal negligence because the firearm was not inspected after designated security professionals had done so. ".
Baldwin's attorneys filed their first motion to dismiss the indictment in March, pointing to alleged abuses in the grand jury selection process. A month ago, special prosecutors alleged that Baldwin and his attorneys have made incessant "misleading statements" citing material allegedly leaked to US media outlets.
Due to the event on the set of Rust in October 2021, in which Hutchins died and director Joel Souza was also injured, Baldwin faces 18 months in prison and a fine of thousands of dollars in a trial that should begin on July 9 in Santa Fe. Before, on May 17 specifically, the actor will see how his dismissal is evaluated in a virtual hearing in front of Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer.
Charged with involuntary manslaughter more than four months ago and found not guilty shortly after, Baldwin also faces half a dozen civil cases in courts in California and New Mexico related to Rust.
For her part, the gunsmith and person responsible for the security protocol during filming, Hannah Gutierrez Reed, was sentenced last month to 18 months in prison for mistakenly loading a real bullet into the Colt 45 type revolver from which the gunshot came out. deadly cartridge.
Likewise, filming on Rust resumed in early 2023 in Montana, with Baldwin and Souza reteaming on a project that, as part of an agreement to file a lawsuit against the actor, Halyna Hutchins' widower, Matthew Hutchins, serves as executive producer.
