By Andrew Hay
(Reuters) -A New Mexico judge on Friday said she would rule next week on Alec Baldwin’s requests to have charges dropped against him in the shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, as the actor tries to avoid an unprecedented Hollywood manslaughter trial for an on-set death.
Baldwin’s lawyers had filed motions to dismiss his indictment, alleging prosecutorial misconduct, failure to show the actor committed a crime and destruction of evidence during testing of the gun Baldwin used in 2021 during a rehearsal on the New Mexico set of ‘Rust.’
“We need the court to move in and check this abuse of power,” Baldwin attorney Alex Spiro said during a virtual court hearing before Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer on Friday, who will preside over Baldwin’s case should it reach a trial scheduled to start July 10.
During the at times contentious hearing, New Mexico state special prosecutor Kari Morrissey denied allegations from Baldwin’s lawyer Luke Nikas that she hid evidence from the grand jury that indicted Baldwin in January.
Morrissey also said grand jurors were presented with evidence Baldwin showed criminal negligence when he pointed the gun at Hutchins, in violation of industry-wide safety rules.
“The actor has responsibility for the firearms once it is in their hands,” Morrissey said.
Instead of ruling from the bench on Friday, Sommer said she would give a written decision on Baldwin’s request next week.
Hutchins was shot with a live round after Baldwin pointed the gun at her as she set up a camera. The “30 Rock” actor maintains he did not pull the trigger, an assertion that had become central to the case.
Sommer sentenced “Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez to 18 months prison in April after a Santa Fe jury found her guilty of involuntary manslaughter for loading the live round into the reproduction Colt Single Action Army revolver Baldwin was rehearsing with.
Hutchins died in the first on-set fatal shooting with a live round mistaken for a dummy or blank round since Hollywood’s silent era, according to historian Alan Rode.
Hollywood on-set shootings have in the past been settled through civil lawsuits, such as the last fatality in 1993 when Brandon Lee was killed when a blank round dislodged a bullet stuck in a revolver’s barrel during filming of “The Crow,” according to UCLA film historian Jonathan Kuntz.
(Reporting By Andrew Hay; editing by Donna Bryson and Aurora Ellis)
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