Actor Alec Baldwin is asking to be let off the hook in the ‘Rust’ manslaughter case, claiming prosecutors rigged the jury process in the case.
The 65-year-old and his lawyer Alex Spiro have filed new legal documents, seen by TMZwhere he asks to have his case thrown out.
Baldwin and Spiro claim the grand jury trial was rigged by the Santa Fe County DA’s office, claiming they added 7 witnesses who were biased.
The filing reportedly adds that three of the witnesses were on the DA’s payroll, two of them were from the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office, and one was suing him in a civil case.
It is also alleged that the FBI tested the gun used in the fatal scene that killed Halyna Hutchins and that the DA failed to present all evidence from the test.
The 65-year-old and his attorney Alex Spiro have filed new legal documents, seen by TMZ, asking for his case to be thrown out
Baldwin was originally charged with the involuntary manslaughter of Halyna Hutchins, but the charges were dropped last April before he was charged last month
The documents claim the test showed the revolver fired without the trigger being pulled when fully loaded, just as they were on the day of the tragedy.
During Hannah Gutierrez-Reed’s trial earlier this year, Agent Bryce Ziegler said he had to break the gun with a hammer to get it to fire without pulling the trigger.
Ziegler, appearing for the prosecution, said it could not have happened on the set of Rust because the gun was in working order when it came to him.
His analysis contradicts Baldwin’s claims that he only pulled the hammer back on the vintage-looking gun.
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, 26, was an armorer for Rust and was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
The verdict creates problems for Baldwin, as he will be tried in July in the same courthouse for involuntary manslaughter. If found guilty, he faces 18 months in prison.
Baldwin was initially charged with involuntary manslaughter, but the charges were dropped last April. He was dramatically charged again last month and pleaded not guilty.
The shooting took place in October 2021 after two weeks of filming, while Baldwin was practicing drawing his gun from its holster.
He opened fire on Hutchins, 42, a married mother-of-one whose son was nine at the time, and the bullet went through her and lodged in the shoulder of director Joel Souza, who survived and testified in court.
The shooting took place in October 2021 after two weeks of filming as Baldwin practiced pulling his gun from its holster
Gutierrez-Reed was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and was also charged with tampering with evidence
The jury was shown shocking images of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins’ bloodstained shirt
During Gutierrez-Reed’s trial, prosecutors painted a damning portrait of a movie that was in a state of ‘hurried chaos.’
The night before the incident, six members of the camera crew resigned due to their safety concerns.
Gutierrez-Reed’s defense blamed everyone but her, but especially Baldwin.
Her lawyer, Jason Bowles, said Baldwin was the ‘big boss’ on set who no one stood up to, even as he rushed people and ignored security checks because Rust, on which he was a producer, was on a tight budget.
The jury heard that Baldwin commissioned director Souza to write the script, to which he owned the rights. Baldwin starred in the film and was also a producer.
Bowles called Gutierrez-Reed, who was just 24 at the time of the incident, a “scapegoat” for broader failures that prompted New Mexico to issue a $136,000 fine to the manufacturers for “willful and serious” safety deficiencies.
Bowles told the court that Baldwin himself made the set unsafe by waving his gun as a ‘pointer’ at people.
During Gutierrez-Reed’s trial, prosecutors painted a damning portrait of a movie that was in a state of “hurried chaos”
Jurors were shown a video shot during the production of Rust in which Baldwin pointed the gun at the crew and cast, including a 12-year-old boy between scenes
Jurors were told that Baldwin himself made the set unsafe by waving his gun as a ‘pointer’ at people and firing shots after the director said cut
A behind-the-scenes video from the shoot showed Baldwin demanding a second shot immediately after one that had just finished.
He was heard to say, ‘At once! Immediately! Let’s reload. Here we go, come on! We should have two guns, both reloaded.’
Asked if that kind of behavior was typical, Carpenter said no, adding that it put pressure on the armorer to stand up to him.
Moments later, after the director called cut, Baldwin unleashed another blank round while standing next to the 12-year-old actor.
Carpenter said that when someone yells cut, nothing else should be fired and that Baldwin “went off script.”
Baldwin could have used a Nerf gun in the scene where he accidentally shot Hutchins dead because it was just a rehearsal known as blocking, the jury heard.
But Baldwin insisted on using the real weapons, known as his ‘hero props’, because he preferred them, just as he preferred the most powerful dummies possible because they were more realistic.
A gun expert showed the jury a gun similar to the one Baldwin used to shoot Hutchins
Production of Rust came to an abrupt halt in October 2021 when a prop gun held by Baldwin fired a live round that killed Hutchins
In his opening statement, Bowles said Baldwin ‘violated basic gun safety’ by pointing the gun at Hutchins because he did not intend to shoot her.
He said, ‘The main thing here was urgency, get this thing so we can get the money, and it’s all on production, and Mr. Baldwin is one of the primary manufacturers. It’s on them. Miss Gutierrez-Reed had no control over it.’
Cross-examining Addiego, Bowles asked: ‘Did you ever stand up to Mr Baldwin and say we’re not going to go that fast?’
Addiego said it was ‘not my job’ and he did not recall ‘anyone standing up to Mr Baldwin on the set of Rust’.
‘He runs the show, he’s the big boss, right?’ Bowles said. “He’s number one, so yeah,” Addiego said.
The criminal case is not the only trial resulting from the shooting of Hutchins.
In 2022, Baldwin settled a civil lawsuit brought against him by Matthew Hutchins, Hutchins’ widow, and the father of their son.
Under the terms, Rust continued production at a new location in Montana, and Matthew Hutchins, who has called his wife’s death a ‘horrible accident’, is an executive producer. No date has yet been set for the film’s release.