A judge on Friday rejected Alec Baldwin’s latest attempt to have his manslaughter case dismissed, allowing the actor’s trial in the shooting death of “The Lust” cinematographer to proceed within two weeks.
Baldwin’s lawyers had asked a New Mexico judge to dismiss the case after the gun used to kill cinematographer Halina Hutchins on the set of the 2021 film “Lust” was damaged during forensic testing at an FBI lab.
Baldwin’s attorney, John Bash, said at a motion hearing Monday that the gun was a central piece of evidence in the case. The government’s “outrageous” destruction of the firearm violated Baldwin’s rights and denied his lawyers the opportunity to inspect the gun in its original condition and mount a proper defense, Bash said.
“You simply can’t hire our experts to examine the original condition of a firearm,” Bash said. “It’s unfair that criminal defendants don’t have that opportunity.”
Prosecutors said “unfortunately the gun was damaged” during the FBI examination, but that the damage “does not deprive” Baldwin of his right to a fair trial.
In a written ruling Friday, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer wrote in her reasoning for denying the motion based on this argument that Baldwin and his team “have not presented any evidence, other than speculation and conjecture, that an unaltered gun could have exonerated him.”
“Evidence of alterations does not make an unaltered firearm potentially useful evidence absent an explanation that additional testing in the altered state might have exonerated the defendant,” the judge wrote, concluding that the firearm did not meet the “relatively low standard for potentially useful evidence” and that he had not found that the state “acted with bad faith in altering the firearm.”
But the judge ruled that the prosecution “must fully disclose to the jury the devastating nature of the firearms testing, the resulting losses, and their relevance and significance.”
The ruling paves the way for jury selection in the case to begin in July.
Baldwin faces up to 18 months in prison if convicted. He has pleaded not guilty.
His team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a previous attempt to have the case dismissed, Baldwin’s defense team had argued that prosecutors had failed to present key evidence during grand jury deliberations.
Hutchins was hit by a live bullet from Baldwin’s .45-caliber Colt prop revolver on the set of “Lust” on October 21, 2021. The bullet also injured director Joel Souza. Baldwin has claimed in interviews that the gun fired without him pulling the trigger.
In March, the film’s cinematographer, Hannah Gutierrez Reed, was convicted of manslaughter in connection with the cinematographer’s death.
