Alec Baldwin’s lawyers requested a ruling Thursday to dismiss his manslaughter case, accusing prosecutors of “violating virtually every rule in the book” while obtaining an indictment.
The lawyers argued that prosecutors leaked data to the press, failed to present exculpatory evidence to the grand jury and gave a faulty jury instruction on manslaughter that “stacked the cards” against Baldwin.
“Enough is enough,” the legal professionals wrote. “This is an abuse of the system and an abuse of a harmless individual whose rights have been trampled on in the extreme.”
Baldwin was indicted in January and is scheduled to stand trial on July 9 in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
He is accused of negligent arrest for allegedly pointing a gun at “Rust” director of photography Halyna Hutchins and pulling the trigger. Baldwin did not know the gun was loaded with a bullet. Hutchins was killed and the film’s director, Joel Souza, was seriously injured.
In the motion filed Thursday, Baldwin’s attorneys argue that the prosecution failed to make witnesses available to the grand jury who would have testified that it was not the actor’s responsibility to examine the gun before the crime scene.
Protection accuses Kari Morrissey, the specific prosecutor appointed to handle the case, of failing to adequately inform grand jurors that they could hear protection witnesses if they so desired.
Baldwin’s lawyers wanted jurors to hear testimony from Souza, as well as first assistant director Dave Halls, producer Ryan Smith and other witnesses they believed would be helpful to Baldwin.
The defense alleges that Morrissey relied heavily on the state’s professional witness, Bryan Carpenter, who, according to the motion, acknowledged that the actor was responsible for the safe handling of firearms.
The lawyers also accuse Morrissey of engaging in “vindictive and malicious” conduct “from beginning to end.”
“The State had one goal – to indict Baldwin, regardless of the reality, regardless of the grounds or the Court’s rulings, and regardless of what it took to act,” Baldwin’s lawyers wrote.
The defense also alleges that Morrissey was cited as an “unidentified source familiar with the case” by NBC News, stating that the prosecution would “humiliate” Baldwin and offer a “teachable moment.”
The motion presents a preview of some of the factual and legal arguments that protection should be suspended at trial if the motion is denied.
Baldwin denied pulling the trigger. His team is expected to resolve the situation with the weapon at the time of the shot and argue that it was modified to facilitate shooting without pulling the trigger.
Prosecutors said the gun was functioning normally and was damaged during FBI testing. In the motion to dismiss, however, the defense argues that the gun showed signs of having been archived, and that some of the internal components appeared aged, even though the gun was considered new.
The protection argued that the grand jurors were not informed of this.
Baldwin’s lawyers have also been locked in a fight over the legal definition of “involuntary manslaughter.” The motion reveals that his lawyers sought an instruction that prosecutors must provide that he had “subjective information of a real risk that the firearm placed in his hand was loaded with live ammunition.” The court overseeing the grand jury rejected the proposed normalization in a Jan. 11 ruling, according to the motion.
The film’s gunsmith, Hannah Gutierrez Reed, was convicted last week of involuntary manslaughter for loading the spherical housing into Baldwin’s gun. She faces a maximum of 18 months in prison when she is sentenced on April 15. Her lawyer promised attraction.
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