July 12, (THEWILL) – The involuntary manslaughter case against Hollywood actor, Alec Baldwin, about the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on October 21, 2021, on the set of the movie, ‘Rust,’ has been dismissed after the Judge overseeing the case ruled prosecutors did not properly turn over evidence to the defence.
Baldwin’s attorneys had filed a motion to dismiss the case, arguing state investigators did not properly share with the defence that a man had delivered a box of ammunition purportedly connected to the case to investigators.
The judge, Mary Marlowe Sommer, dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning it cannot be brought again.
Baldwin had pleaded not guilty and could have faced up to 18 months in prison. Baldwin was practising a cross draw, pulling a gun from a holster on the opposite side of his body from his draw hand with a prop gun when it fired a live round, killing Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza.
Prosecutors had alleged Baldwin violated the cardinal rules of firearm safety by pointing the prop gun at Hutchins and pulling the trigger.
However, the defence blamed the film’s armourer and the first assistant director jointly in charge of firearm safety on set for allowing a real bullet to be loaded into the prop gun and failing to make it safe before it reached Baldwin.
Ivory Ukonu is a versatile journalist with many years of experience, with entertainment and society reporting as her area of core competence.
