As Alec Baldwin’s trial for involuntary manslaughter approaches, the rust The star producer is again trying to get a judge to dismiss charges related to the fatal 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the indie film’s New Mexico set.
“Because the State does not even allege that Baldwin was aware of the level of risk (let alone significant risk) that the gun was loaded with live ammunition, he is legally innocent,” reads one of two filings Baldwin filed The defense team of New York-based attorneys Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and Albuquerque firm LeBlanc Law filed suit in Santa Fe County courts this week.
“The State has not alleged any facts constituting a crime,” Baldwin’s attorneys state in their 22-page motion to dismiss the charges for failure to allege a crime. “Even assuming all of the allegations presented by the State as true solely for purposes of this motion, defendant Alec Baldwin could not have been aware of the substantial risk that his alleged actions could cause the death of Halyna Hutchins because he had no reason to believe that the firearm contained live ammunition.”
Baldwin always maintained his innocence and insisted that he never pulled the trigger on the Colt .45 that killed Hutchins and injured Rust director Joel Souza. Baldwin’s motion to dismiss will be considered at a hearing on May 17, the courts announced today. The session before Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer comes less than two months before the retried Baldwin’s trial begins July 9 in Santa Fe.
As currently incarcerated rust Gunsmith Hannah Gutierrez-Reed and Baldwin could be sentenced to 18 months in prison and fined thousands of dollars if found guilty. Gutierrez-Reed was successfully convicted of involuntary manslaughter by a jury in the Land of Enchantment within hours on March 6. Gutierrez-Reed, 27, was taken into custody after the verdict was announced and sentenced on April 14
Baldwin’s lawyers have repeatedly tried to have the case dismissed since their client filed new charges against him in January. Baldwin’s lawyers have brought back an old complaint from the first indictment against the actor in early 2023 – the main evidence in pieces.
The government took the key piece of evidence in the case – the gun – and destroyed it by repeatedly and senselessly hitting it with a hammer. Government agents knew the weapon would not survive their clumsy “tests” unscathed. They specifically said that in the emails. But at the urging of prosecutors eager to prove a celebrity’s guilt, they still stumbled along without preserving the firearm’s original condition through photos, videos or other means; without informing Baldwin or his attorney, they conducted destructive tests; and without any realistic prospect that tying the gun would reveal whether Baldwin had pulled the trigger on the day of the accident.
Under time-honored due process principles, the charges must be dismissed. The law is clear: The government cannot knowingly deprive the defense of potentially useful evidence by destroying it. Even if the government is merely negligent – not to mention the willful incompetence on display here – the destruction of seemingly exculpatory evidence violates due process. It is difficult to find a reported decision with a more egregious set of facts: deliberate destruction of key evidence by government officials without justifiable cause, at the urging of prosecutors determined to prove Baldwin’s guilt, and without even the most rudimentary attempts to document its original condition Proofs.
Prosecutors have claimed that the gun was not destroyed during FBI testing, and the defense claims the opposite. A month ago, special prosecutors said Baldwin and his lawyers had tirelessly made “misleading statements” and “false” allegations in the case. Citing material allegedly leaked to the media, a failed plea deal and a strong weaponization of documentary subjects, prosecutors repeatedly express what they call Baldwin’s “complete lack of concern for the safety of those around him” to those deeply troubled rust Sentence.
Baldwin was charged again with involuntary manslaughter more than four months ago and pleaded not guilty a short time later. He also has to contend with about half a dozen civil cases in courts in California and New Mexico rust and the terrible shooting.
While all filings and hearings were underway, rust was revived in early 2023 to complete filming in Montana, with Baldwin and Souza returning as star/producer and director, respectively. Finished for months rust has not yet been picked up by any buyer.
The State v. Alexander Rae Baldwin The trial is expected to take about two weeks, if it takes place at all this summer.