Alec Baldwin fees: Actor not dealing with firearm enhancement in manslaughter cost, prosecutors say

Prosecutors in New Mexico have dropped a firearm enhancement from one of many manslaughter fees towards actor and producer Alec Baldwin, officers introduced Monday. Baldwin nonetheless faces two fees of involuntary manslaughter within the lethal capturing on the set of his Western movie “Rust” in 2021.

With the firearm enhancement, Baldwin may have confronted a compulsory five-year sentence if he was convicted within the dying of the movie’s cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins. Baldwin was holding a gun throughout a rehearsal when it discharged, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.

Baldwin has stated he did not pull the gun’s set off. Prosecutors stated the weapon could not hearth with out the set off being pressed.

Baldwin’s attorneys had been combating towards the enhancement in court docket, arguing that prosecutors used a 2022 model of the regulation that did not apply to the 2021 capturing.

Heather Brewer, a spokesperson for District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies, stated in an announcement the choice to drop the enhancement was made “with the intention to keep away from additional litigious distractions by Mr. Baldwin and his attorneys.”

“The prosecution’s precedence is securing justice, not securing billable hours for big-city attorneys,” Brewer stated.

Prosecutors made the identical change to one of many fees towards the movie’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed. “We applaud the choice and it was the fitting name,” Jason Bowles, an legal professional for Gutierrez-Reed, stated in an announcement.

An legal professional for Baldwin declined to remark instantly following Monday’s developments.

Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed are scheduled to make their preliminary court docket appearances Friday morning. Both defendants are anticipated to make their appearances remotely by way of an internet connection, a court docket spokesperson stated earlier this month.