CNN
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Attorneys representing actor Alec Baldwin on Thursday filed a movement to dismiss expenses in opposition to the actor for the deadly 2021 “Rust” film set capturing that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
Baldwin has pleaded not guilty to an involuntary manslaughter cost within the capturing, which left Hutchins useless and injured director Joel Souza when a gun held by Baldwin fired a stay spherical throughout a scene rehearsal on the set of the western.
Baldwin’s attorneys denounced the case in opposition to the actor within the court docket submitting Thursday, saying prosecutors “publicly dragged Baldwin via the cesspool created by their improprieties—with none regard for the truth that critical legal expenses have been hanging over his head for 2 and a half years.”
“That is an abuse of the system, and an abuse of an harmless particular person whose rights have been trampled to the acute,” attorneys stated whereas asking the court docket to dismiss the indictment.
CNN has reached out to the prosecutors within the case for remark.
Preliminary involuntary manslaughter expenses in opposition to Baldwin had been dropped final yr. Nonetheless, prosecutors later said that “further info have come to gentle that we consider present Mr. Baldwin has legal culpability within the dying of Halyna Hutchins” and signaled a grand jury would resolve on recharging the actor. Baldwin was then indicted by a New Mexico grand jury in January.
The involuntary manslaughter expenses Baldwin now faces embrace one described in court docket paperwork as “negligent use of a firearm” and an alternate rely described as involuntary manslaughter with out due warning or circumspection, which is detailed as “an act dedicated with the whole disregard or indifference to the security of others.”
Baldwin has denied pulling the set off on the weapon in a previous interview with CNN.
The movie’s armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed – who was accountable for firearm security and storage on the film’s set – was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter within the on-set capturing final week. She faces as much as 18 months in jail and a $5,000 positive.
Prosecutors argued she repeatedly violated security protocol on set and acted negligently and with out warning in performing her duties as armorer, and that her actions in the end led to Hutchins’ dying.
Gutierrez Reed is the first person to stand trial in a case that highlighted the film trade’s security requirements – and this particular set’s violations of them.