The Santa Fe County, New Mexico, district attorney dropped the gun enhancement charge against Alec Baldwin in the case involving the shooting death of “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins Monday.
The dropped charge means that even if convicted of involuntary manslaughter, Baldwin will face no more than 18 months in prison, according to TMZ. Prosecutors would have to prove that Baldwin brandished the firearm with the intent to harm or intimidate someone in order for him to be convicted of the gun enhancement charge.
“In order to avoid further litigious distractions by Mr. Baldwin and his attorneys, the District Attorney and the special prosecutor have removed the firearm enhancement to the involuntary manslaughter charges in the death of Halyna Hutchins on the ‘Rust’ film set,” a spokesperson for First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies told Fox News Digital. “The prosecution’s priority is securing justice, not securing billable hours for big-city attorneys.”
Baldwin would have faced a mandatory five-year prison sentence if convicted of the gun enhancement charge, according to Fox News. Baldwin’s lawyers challenged the charge earlier this month, claiming it was unconstitutional.
“The prosecutors committed a basic legal error by charging Mr. Baldwin under a version of the firearm-enhancement statute that did not exist on the date of the accident,” a legal filing stated.
Last month, Baldwin was charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of Hutchins in October 2021. Prosecutors allege in a probable cause statement that Baldwin “drew the revolver from the holster, pointed it at Halyna Hutchins, and fired the weapon.”
The actor has insisted that he is not to blame for Hutchins’ death on set.
“I feel that someone is responsible for what happened and I can’t say who that is, but I know it’s not me,” Baldwin told ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos in December 2021. “I might have killed myself if I thought I was responsible, and I don’t say that lightly.”
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the person allegedly responsible for handling guns on the movie set, also faces an involuntary manslaughter charge.