SANTA FE.- A judge of New Mexico to consider the request for Alec Baldwin to dismiss the accusation of a jury against him in a audience virtual court on Friday.
The indictment in January charged Baldwin with involuntary manslaughter for a fatal shooting that left cinematographer Halyna Hutchins dead on October 21, 2021, at a ranch used as a filming location outside of Santa Fe.
Baldwin, lead actor and co-producer of the western Rust, He pleaded not guilty to the charges and his attorneys urged that they be dismissed. The involuntary manslaughter charge carries a maximum sentence of a year and a half in prison.
During rehearsal, Baldwin was pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins when the gun went off, killing Hutchins and wounding Joel Souza, the film’s director. Baldwin has maintained that he lowered the hammer of the gun, but did not pull the trigger.
Application
Baldwin’s motion to dismiss the indictment argues that the grand jury received inaccurate and one-sided testimony about the gun involved in the fatal shooting.
Defense attorneys argued Friday that the prosecutor repeatedly neglected her responsibilities to ensure fair grand jury proceedings by withholding or diverting jurors from exculpatory evidence.
“The solution was ready,” said defense attorney Alex Spiro. “There were no witnesses there to testify. There was no evidence folder of the defense’s evidence.”
“They never intended for the grand jury to call witnesses,” he continued. “They never wanted the jury to ask for evidence.”
At the tax office
Special prosecutors say they followed jury protocols and accuse Baldwin of brazen attempts to escape guilt, highlighting contradictions in his statements to authorities, workplace safety regulators and in a televised interview. A jury trial is scheduled for July.
Prosecutors focused all their attention on Baldwin after Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer, who is overseeing proceedings against Baldwin, sentenced the film’s weapons supervisor, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, in April to the maximum 1.5 years in a penitentiary. state on a conviction of involuntary manslaughter in Hutchins’ death.
Last year, prosecutors dismissed an earlier manslaughter charge against Baldwin after they were told that the gun he was holding may have been modified before the shooting and malfunctioned. A new analysis of the gun last year allowed prosecutors to restart the case.
Gutierrez-Reed’s two-week trial gave Baldwin’s lawyers and the public a rare window into how the actor’s trial could unfold. Prosecutors said Gutierrez-Reed unintentionally brought live ammunition to the set of Rust, where it was expressly prohibited, and did not follow basic gun safety protocols.
Gutirrez-Reed will appeal his conviction, decided by a jury in March, to a higher court, but has not yet presented detailed arguments. At sentencing, Gutierrez-Reed told the judge that he tried to do the best he could on set despite not having “the appropriate time, resources and personnel.”
FUENTE: AP
