Alec Baldwin will face involuntary manslaughter charges for the 2021 fatal shooting of Halyna Hutchins on the set of the Western film “Rust.”
Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer sided with New Mexico special prosecutors on Friday, rejecting Baldwin’s lawyers’ petition to dismiss the January grand jury indictment.
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The ruling comes a week after Sommer heard arguments from Baldwin’s attorney, Alex Spiro, and special prosecutor, Kari Morrissey, on May 17.
Baldwin’s attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the charge in March, accusing state prosecutors of “unfairly stacking the deck” against the “30 Rock” star and participating in “an abuse of the system and an abuse of an innocent person whose rights have been trampled to the extreme.”
“The grand jury did not receive the favorable or exculpatory testimony and documents that the state had an obligation to present,” the motion stated. “Nor was the grand jury informed that it had a right to review and an obligation to request this information.”
In late January, Baldwin pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter charges. The trial scheduled the case for July 10.
In March, a jury convicted “Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Hutchins, a 42-year-old cameraman. Later, the jury sentenced Gutierrez-Reed to 18 months in prison, the maximum penalty for the charge, and her lawyers pledged to challenge the decision.
New Mexico prosecutors claimed Baldwin showed ‘bullyish behavior’ on ‘Rust’ set
The special prosecutors in Baldwin’s case responded to his move to dismiss last month. In the 316-page brief, state prosecutors Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis alleged Baldwin displayed “bullyish behavior on set” and modified his account to blame others.
In their 316-page brief, prosecutors characterized Baldwin as a demanding actor and project producer who ignored safety precautions, failed to follow his director’s instructions, and changed his story about what transpired during the filming.
“Every time Mr. Baldwin spoke, a different version of events emerged from his mouth, and his later statements contradicted his previous statements,” the prosecution stated.
They additionally stated that Baldwin’s defense team is working “to ensure that the case is not heard on its merits, and if it is heard on its merits, to discredit the prosecution, investigation, and witnesses in the media so that a conviction becomes unlikely for reasons that have nothing to do with Mr. Baldwin’s criminal culpability.”
Morrissey and Lewis alleged that “Mr. Baldwin was in charge” as the project’s principal actor and producer, and that “in addition to rushing the cast and crew, Mr. Baldwin was frequently screaming and cursing at himself, at crew members, or at no one, and not for any particular reason.”
They stated, “To watch Mr. Baldwin’s behavior on the set of Rust is to witness a man who has no control over his own emotions and has no regard for how his actions affect others around him. Witnesses have claimed that this specific behavior led to safety concessions on set.”
Prosecutors claim that 24-year-old armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed’s “negligence and inexperience” and Baldwin’s “complete lack of concern for the safety of those around him” on set contributed to the death of 42-year-old Hutchins.
Baldwin was pointing a.45 caliber single-action army revolver at Hutchins during rehearsals on the film set outside Santa Fe, New Mexico, on October 21, 2021, when the gun went off, killing Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza. Baldwin insisted that he never pulled the trigger.
