Current:Home > FinanceAlec Baldwin Files Motion to Dismiss Involuntary Manslaughter Charges in Rust Shooting Case-LoTradeCoin
Alec Baldwin Files Motion to Dismiss Involuntary Manslaughter Charges in Rust Shooting Case
View Date:2024-12-24 07:35:39
Alec Baldwin is fighting his charges.
Almost two months after a grand jury reinstated his indictment over the fatal 2021 shooting of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, Baldwin's legal team has filed a March 14 motion to dismiss the involuntary manslaughter charges, as seen in a court docket viewed by E! News.
"This is an abuse of the system," his attorneys Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro said while asking the court to dismiss the indictment, per CNN, adding, "and an abuse of an innocent person whose rights have been trampled to the extreme."
In the filing, according to the outlet, Baldwin's legal team said prosecutors "publicly dragged Baldwin through the cesspool created by their improprieties—without any regard for the fact that serious criminal charges have been hanging over his head for two and a half years."
E! News has also reached out to Baldwin's lawyers and to New Mexico prosecutor Kari Morrissey for comment but has not yet heard back.
The new indictment, filed in January and obtained by E! News at the time, charged Baldwin with two counts of involuntary manslaughter, one for "negligent use of a firearm" and the other for doing so "without due caution or circumspection." It also alleges that Baldwin caused Hutchins' death "by an act committed with the total disregard or indifference for the safety of others."
Regarding the reinstated charges, Baldwin's attorneys told E! News at the time, "We look forward to our day in court."
The 30 Rock alum has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The indictment—which states that the actor can only be convicted of one of the counts, with a maximum sentence of 18 months in prison, per NBC News—came less than a year after Baldwin's original charges were dropped.
The dismissal in April 2023 came after Baldwin's legal team accused prosecutors of committing "a basic legal error" by charging him under a version of a firearm-enhancement statute that did not exist at the time of the shooting.
At the time, Morrisey and her partner Jason Lewis maintained that despite dropping the charges, they had the right to recharge Baldwin—who had pleaded not guilty—telling NBC News, "This decision does not absolve Mr. Baldwin of criminal culpability."
The filing to dismiss Baldwin's reinstated charges comes shortly after the film's armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and not guilty of tampering with evidence, per a court filing obtained by E! News.
The March 6 guilty verdict means the 26-year-old could face up to three years in state prison, according to NBC News. Her lawyer Jason Bowles told E! News they will appeal the verdict.
Throughout his legal journey, Baldwin has continued to deny any criminality, telling ABC News in 2021, "The trigger wasn't pulled. I didn't pull the trigger."
However, an August 2023 forensic report commissioned by the prosecution, and viewed by The New York Times, determined Baldwin must have pulled the trigger in order for the weapon to go off.
"Although Alec Baldwin repeatedly denies pulling the trigger," Forensics expert Lucien C. Haag wrote in the report, per the Times, "given the tests, findings and observations reported here, the trigger had to be pulled or depressed sufficiently to release the fully cocked or retracted hammer of the evidence revolver."
NBC News and E! are both part of the NBCUniversal family.
For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News AppveryGood! (677)
Related
- Diddy's ex-bodyguard sues rape accuser for defamation over claims of 2001 assault
- Punxsutawney Phil, the spring-predicting groundhog, and wife Phyliss are parents of 2 babies
- Rebel Wilson Shares She Lost Her Virginity at Age 35
- Rebel Wilson Shares She Lost Her Virginity at Age 35
- Why Josh O'Connor Calls Sex Scenes Least Sexy Thing After Challengers With Zendaya and Mike Faist
- Iowa's Patrick McCaffery, son of Hawkeyes coach Fran McCaffery, enters transfer portal
- Kenya begins handing over 429 bodies of doomsday cult victims to families: They are only skeletons
- King Charles III Shares His Great Sadness After Missing Royal Event
- Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul VIP fight package costs a whopping $2M. Here's who bought it.
- Longtime Kansas City Chiefs cheerleader Krystal Anderson dies after giving birth
Ranking
- Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas says he was detained in airport over being ‘disoriented’
- Eva Mendes says she had 'non-verbal agreement' with Ryan Gosling to be a stay-at-home mom
- The Daily Money: When retirement is not a choice
- NTSB says police had 90 seconds to stop traffic, get people off Key Bridge before it collapsed
- 'Wanted' posters plastered around University of Rochester target Jewish faculty members
- I Tried 83 Beauty Products This Month. These 15 Are Worth Your Money: Milk Makeup, Glossier, and More
- Ship that smashed into Baltimore bridge has 56 hazmat containers, Coast Guard says no leak found
- Four students arrested and others are suspended following protest at Vanderbilt University
Recommendation
-
Taylor Swift drops Christmas merchandise collection, including for 'Tortured Poets' era
-
The White House expects about 40,000 participants at its ‘egg-ucation'-themed annual Easter egg roll
-
Ship that smashed into Baltimore bridge has 56 hazmat containers, Coast Guard says no leak found
-
Cecily Strong Is Engaged—And Her Proposal Story Is Worthy of a Saturday Night Live Sketch
-
Traveling to Las Vegas? Here Are the Best Black Friday Hotel Deals
-
College basketball coaches March Madness bonuses earned: Rick Barnes already at $1 million
-
How non-shooting deaths involving police slip through the cracks in Las Vegas
-
Black pastors see popular Easter services as an opportunity to rebuild in-person worship attendance