The magistrate dropped the weapon charge against Alec Baldwin. This gives the case for the murder of Halyna Hutchins an unexpected and uncalled-for twist.
Halyna was a cinematographer that died on set when an accidental discharge of a gun hit her and took her life. At the moment of the scene, the gun was in the hands of Alec Baldwin, an actor in the movie that the cinematographer worked on.
Alec Baldwin May Avoid Prison For The Murder He Committed
As expected, Alec Baldwin was almost immediately sentenced to prison. However, now, months after the happening, it seems like he can get away from the sentence without doing jail time.
TMZ reported that the Santa Fe County District Attorney dropped a key charge in Alec Baldwin’s case. By doing this, they allowed the actor to avoid going to jail, even if he gets a conviction.
Alec Baldwin’s team filed a motion, complaining that the prosecutor used a law that doesn’t apply to charge the actor. As a result, the magistrate dropped the gun charge in the case. The prosecution initially charged Alec Baldwin with involuntary manslaughter. However, since there is a clause in the law that doesn’t brand this as a murder, he may walk out as a free man.
According to New Mexico law, the prosecutor can apply a gun charge only if the weapon is ‘brandished’. In other words, this means “if the person displayed the weapon with the intent to intimidate or injure a person”.
Alec Baldwin, thankfully didn’t brandish the weapon, but he was barely using it as a part of an acting scene. This means that the gun charge can effectively go away.
Nevertheless, another controversy surrounds the case as of when this happened. According to the official documents, the amendment to the law in question came 7 months after the death of the cinematographer. If the charge went through completely before this, Alec was looking at around 5 years in prison.
However, now that the magistrate dropped the charge and introduced the amendment to the law, he faces a maximum of 18 months. According to rumors circling in New Mexico, the judge may even reduce the sentence furthermore. He may give him probation.
This also affects the weapon officer of the movie in question, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed. The magistrate dropped the gun charge for her as well.
“The prosecutors committed a basic legal error.” – one of Baldwin’s attorneys says. ”Santa Fe prosecutors said they made the decision to eschew legal disputes with Baldwin’s legal team. In order to avoid further litigious distractions by Mr Baldwin and his attorneys, prosecutors have removed the firearm enhancement to the involuntary manslaughter charges in the death of Halyna Hutchins on the Rust film set. The prosecution’s priority is securing justice, not securing billable hours for big-city attorneys.”
