Alec Baldwin Loses Attempt At Having Manslaughter Charges Dropped

(DailyDig.com) – Alec Baldwin, an actor, failed in his attempt to have his charge of involuntary manslaughter against him dropped. The incident happened during the filming of the movie “Rust,” when Halyna Hutchins, the film’s cinematographer, died.

The news media reported that during a hearing on June 21, Baldwin’s defense attorneys argued that there was no reason for him to think the gun contained live ammunition. The judge, Mary Marlowe Sommer, dismissed the petition to drop the charges. The judge also dismissed a request from the prosecutors to grant immunity to Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer in charge of the prop gun, for her conviction on the same charge that she had previously testified against Baldwin.

Gutierrez-Reed rejected the efforts to have her testify in Baldwin’s case, as well as the attorneys for Baldwin. The judge, Sommer, stated in her dismissal that she had not heard anything about her testifying about something different from what others had testified about.

Currently, Gutierrez-Reed is serving a sentence of 18 months for the charge of involuntary manslaughter. Baldwin could potentially receive the same sentence if found guilty. He was originally charged in 2023, but it was dropped prior to trial. The grand jury refiled the charges last January after indicting Baldwin.

Baldwin’s attorneys have one additional motion pending for dismissal, which Judge Sommer will preside over. This motion concerns the prop gun, as the defense stated that the FBI’s testing on it damaged the gun so that they were unable to test it themselves.

The attorneys claimed that the FBI intentionally damaged the gun when they struck it many times with a mallet, which seemed like a pointless act involving an important piece of evidence. In the court filings, the attorneys claim that the agents must have been aware that their actions would destroy the most critical piece of evidence.

Baldwin has previously and frequently stated that he did point the gun on the set but never pulled its trigger. Prosecutors now claim that they have a witness who stated that he did indeed pull the trigger.