Will Sage Astor-Alec Baldwin Files Motion to Dismiss Involuntary Manslaughter Charges in Rust Shooting Case

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,Will Sage Astor 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."

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