Alec Baldwin asked a New Mexico judge to dismiss manslaughter charges against him in the deadly “Rust” movie shooting, alleging misconduct by prosecutors who have overseen the long-running case.
A Santa Fe County grand jury indicted Baldwin in January on two counts of involuntary manslaughter for his role in the October 2021 accidental death of “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on a movie set. from West. If convicted, the 65-year-old actor could serve up to 18 months in prison.
On Wednesday, Baldwin's attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the indictment. In the petition, they detailed a series of alleged errors that they said threatened Baldwin's constitutional right to a fair trial. His criminal trial will begin July 10 in a Santa Fe court.
In the motion, Baldwin's lead attorney, Luke Nikas, accused special prosecutors Kari T. Morrissey and Jason J. Lewis of conducting a “sham” grand jury proceeding against Baldwin earlier this year. The closed-door hearing took place on Jan. 18, just one day before the grand jury panel's term of service ended. Baldwin's attorneys said special prosecutors called only seven witnesses during the hearing, and only one witnessed the shooting. The attorneys also argued that evidence favoring Baldwin was not presented to the grand jury.
The new indictments come after a series of high-profile mistakes made last year by the previous group of prosecutors, including initially charging Baldwin with a criminal charge that was not registered in New Mexico when the fatal shooting occurred. After the first two prosecutors resigned, Morrissey and Lewis took over the case almost a year ago.
Baldwin pleaded not guilty to the charges.
“State prosecutors have engaged in this misconduct, publicly dragging Baldwin into a cesspool created by his wrongdoing, disregarding the fact that serious criminal charges have been hanging over his head for two and a half years,” Baldwin's attorneys wrote in the report. motion to dismiss. “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.”
Morrissey was not immediately available for comment.
Earlier this month, Morrissey won the conviction of the film's gunsmith, Hannah Gutierrez. A Santa Fe jury found the 26-year-old Arizona woman, who loaded the gun that day, guilty of involuntary manslaughter in Hutchins' death.
During Gutierrez's trial, prosecutors presented evidence suggesting that Baldwin was also responsible for the tragedy. In his closing argument, Morrissey told jurors in the Gutierrez case that Baldwin must also answer for his actions.
The tragedy on the set of “Rust” has brought increased scrutiny to on-set safety, a key concern among Hollywood film crew members. Just hours before the fatal shooting, members of the “Rust” camera crew had walked off the set, located on a sprawling movie location south of Santa Fe, to protest what they saw as safety concerns. Cameramen noted accidental gun discharges and a lack of nearby accommodation.
Due to the exodus of the camera crew members, the remaining crew members were left behind that day.
Just after lunch, Baldwin and Hutchins were rehearsing a scene that was supposed to be a close-up of Baldwin, playing hardened outlaw Harland Rust, slowly drawing his .45 Colt revolver from his holster. Baldwin has admitted to pointing the revolver at Hutchins and cocking the hammer. He had been told that the gun was “cold,” meaning that it had no live ammunition inside. But the gun contained five fake bullets and one real bullet.
Baldwin has long maintained that he did not pull the trigger of his gun. Hutchins, the cinematographer, was standing two or three feet away when Baldwin's gun went off, firing the lead bullet that fatally struck her in the chest. The bullet also wounded the film's director, Joel Souza, who recovered from his wound.
A month after the accident, Baldwin told ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos: “I didn't pull the trigger. … I would never point a gun at anyone and pull the trigger.”
Lingering questions about the condition of the gun at the time of the shooting will likely be thorny for prosecutors.
Baldwin's defense team has suggested that the prop gun was defective and may have malfunctioned, causing it to be discharged, a theory that is expected to be a centerpiece of the actor's defense. His attorneys have pointed to the gun's failure during testing to support Baldwin's recollection of his role in the tragic shooting.
However, ballistics experts, including one who testified on behalf of prosecutors during Baldwin's grand jury proceeding, have cast doubt on Baldwin's claims.
An FBI forensic examiner who testified at Gutierrez's trial said the gun was operational when he received it a few months after the shooting. That analyst, Bryce Ziegler, said he conducted a series of rigorous tests, including hitting Baldwin's prop gun several times with a “rawhide mallet” to determine whether hitting or pushing the gun would trigger a discharge. He said he was trying to simulate scenarios in which the gun would fire without the handler pulling the trigger.
The weapon broke during the test.
