Alec Baldwin, the actor who fatally shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the movie "Rust," is facing reduced charges in the case.
The reduced charges come after the prosecution decided to drop the firearm enhancement that was initially brought against the actor. First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies made the announcement in filed paperwork on Monday.
Alec Baldwin's Manslaughter Charges
The spokesperson for the district attorney, Heather Brewer, said that Baldwin and his attorneys decided to avoid further litigious distractions. She added that the priority of the prosecution is to secure justice for the victim and not secure billable hours for high-profile attorneys.
If the DA did not file papers to reduce the charges against Baldwin, he would have faced a mandatory five years of imprisonment if he was convicted of the involuntary manslaughter charge with the firearm enhancement.
The maximum prison time that the actor could face for the killing is 18 months. In a statement, former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani said that the district attorney must be pretty embarrassed, saying that charging a law retroactively violates the Constitution, as per Fox News.
In a February 10 filing, Baldwin's lawyers said that the firearm enhancement was unconstitutional and noted that prosecutors committed a basic legal error by charging the defendant under a version of the firearm enhancement statutes that did not exist on the accident date.
Baldwin's attorneys said that during the fatal accident, the firearm enhancement charge was not part of New Mexico law. They added that the actor could not be punished retroactively.
Previously, legal experts also explained why Baldwin's defense team filed this motion, and they predicted that the firearm enhancement charge would be dropped from the case. A personal injury lawyer, Ted Spaulding, said that the original law that was in effect was very specific in how it defined "brandishing" and noted that the defendant did not violate that specific law.
Fatal Shooting of Halyna Hutchins
The altered charges that Baldwin faces will also apply to Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who was the armor responsible for weapons and ammunition on the movie set. She was the one who loaded the gun on the day of the shooting that ultimately resulted in Hutchins' death, according to the New York Times.
Baldwin has continued to claim that he was not responsible for the fatal shooting, arguing that he was handed a gun that he was told was "cold," which meant that it did not contain any live rounds and was safe to handle.
Jason Bowles, a lawyer for Gutierrez-Reed, said in court papers that the firearm enhancement did not apply to his client because she did not hold the gun when it went off. He noted that the prosecutor's decision to drop the enhancement charges reflected "good ethical standards."
A prop gun fatally shot the victim Baldwin held on the movie set as the actor continued to claim that he did not pull the trigger. The incident also injured the movie's director, Joel Souza, who survived the accident, said CNN.
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