Alec Baldwin’s attorneys asked a judge to dismiss the involuntary manslaughter indictment against him on Thursday, accusing prosecutors of misconduct and claiming the actor had been dragged “through the cesspool created by their improprieties.”
Baldwin’s lawyers laid out their claims in a 52-page filing, alleging prosecutors violated “nearly every rule in the book” before he was indicted by a grand jury in January. The filing claims prosecutors withheld “substantial exculpatory and favorable evidence,” and failed to call enough witnesses who were on set of the film “Rust” when the shooting took place.
“Enough is enough,” the filing reads. “This is an abuse of the system, and an abuse of an innocent person whose rights have been trampled to the extreme.”
The New York Times notes that in New Mexico, defendants are not allowed to call their own witnesses when a case is presented to a grand jury, but can submit a document to prosecutors that includes evidence that can help their client. The filing Thursday notes that Baldwin’s team proposed multiple people who were on set during the shooting, including the film’s director and assistant director. Baldwin’s attorneys claimed testimony from the men could have helped grand jurors better understand safety procedures surrounding guns on film sets.
But prosecutors called just one witness Baldwin’s team proposed, the lead detective on the case.
“The State had one goal ― indict Baldwin, no matter the truth, no matter the rules or the Court rulings, and no matter what it took to do so,” the filing reads.
The actor was indicted in January over the 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the western film in New Mexico. Baldwin was pointing a gun at Hutchins during a rehearsal when the firearm went off, killing her and injuring the film’s director, Joel Souza.
The actor has maintained he did not pull the trigger and has denied any responsibility for Hutchins’ death, saying there were others on set who were in charge of gun safety. But prosecutors have accused him of “total disregard or indifference for the safety of others.” A grand jury indicted him on a charge of involuntary manslaughter, which carries a sentence of up to 18 months in prison. He is set to go to trial in July and has pleaded not guilty.
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer on the film, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter last week. She will be sentenced at a hearing next month and faces up to 18 months in prison.
Even if the judge does dismiss the case, prosecutors could bring the case to a different grand jury. An initial manslaughter charge against Baldwin was dismissed in early 2023 before prosecutors brought the most recent case against him.