Alex Baldwin’s manslaughter trial is set to take place next month despite his lawyers’ requests that the charges be dropped.
Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer denied a motion to dismiss the case, marking her third ruling in five weeks upholding the charges. As reported by People magazine:.
Baldwin’s lawyers argued that key evidence relating to the prop gun the actor allegedly used to fire, killing cinematographer Halina Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza, was destroyed.
The fatal incident in October 2021 occurred on the set of the Western film “Lust.”
The “30 Rock” star’s trial is set to begin July 9. He faces up to 18 months in prison.
“Government officials knew the firearms would not survive their clumsy ‘tests’ intact,” his lawyers argued in court papers in May.
“However, prosecutors’ eagerness to prove the guilt of a celebrity led them to proceed haphazardly, without preserving the gun’s pristine condition through photographs, video or other means,” they continued.
The FBI conducted a firing test in which they hit the gun from multiple angles with a mallet, ultimately destroying it. The defense argued that this prevented them from testing the gun for tampering or defects that could have exonerated Baldwin.
The actor and producer maintains his innocence, saying he just cocked the gun, but did not pull the trigger.
But Judge Marlowe Sommer ruled that the destruction of the gun’s internal parts “did not have a significant prejudice to a fair trial” and that the defense had failed to prove the investigators had malicious intent. According to reports.
The prosecutor said it was “unfortunate” the gun broke, but it was not destroyed.
In May, a New Mexico judge rejected defense arguments that prosecutors had ignored the rules of grand jury procedure. Also, The 66-year-old actor said he had committed no crime and that the use of live ammunition on a film set was “incomprehensible”.
They argued that it was the responsibility of the film’s firearms specialist, Hannah Gutierrez Reid, to make sure the guns did not contain live ammunition.
Gutierrez Reed is currently 18 months imprisonment in connection with Hutchins’ death.
Her lawyers filed new legal documents Thursday, accusing prosecutors of suppressing a report that found “unexplained” modifications to the trigger of the gun that killed Hutchins. According to TMZ.
Last summer, firearms expert Lucien Haag pointed out that the markings on the gun “are not original manufacturing markings” or the result of damage caused by the FBI inspection.
But he testified this week that he no longer stands by the report and believes the marks were made during the FBI’s examination. Rolling Stone magazine reported.
Filming eventually resumed, but by agreement with Hutchins’ husband, shooting was moved to Montana, with Hutchins also serving as executive producer.
The finished film has not yet been released.
