The New Mexico judge presiding over Alec Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter case upheld the charge against him, clearing the way for the trial to resume in July.
In an order issued Friday, May 24, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer denied a motion to dismiss the indictment against Baldwin, 66, who wielded a revolver on the set of a western movie in New Mexico. rust in 2021, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza.
Sommer wrote that the court did not find, among other things, that the jury was improperly instructed, nor did the prosecution violate the judge’s instructions to the jury.
“We look forward to our day in court,” Baldwin’s attorneys told PEOPLE on Friday.
In March, the lawyers of the ex 30 Rock the star filed a motion to have the case dismissed. They made several arguments, including a claim that special prosecutor Kari T. Morrissey gave “prejudiced” instructions to the grand jury, which eventually indicted Baldwin, the movie star and producer.
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Alec Baldwin on the set of the movie ‘Rust’. Courtesy of the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office
Baldwin, who insisted he did not pull the trigger or know the gun accidentally contained live ammunition, faces up to 18 months in prison if convicted at trial.
In their April response to Baldwin’s request, Morrissey and fellow special prosecutor Jason J. Lewis (who has since stepped down from the case due to a scheduling conflict) called the claims by Baldwin’s lawyers “blatantly false.”
Everything you need to know about rust The shooting case and the upcoming trial of Alec Baldwin
In the same documents, they claimed that the actor “frequently screamed and cursed” on set and called him “a man who has absolutely no control over his own emotions and absolutely no concern for how his behavior affects those around him.”
On April 22, Baldwin’s lawyers filed a response to that response, which began with a snappy quote attributed to an unknown author: “When the argument is lost, libel becomes the loser’s tool.”
They called the plaintiffs’ response “a 32-page jeremiad against Baldwin and his attorneys that cites no legal decisions, fails to distinguish Baldwin’s authority, and spends no more than five pages addressing the key legal issues raised in Baldwin’s motion.”
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After a heated exchange between the prosecution and the defense, Sommer scheduled a hearing for May 17 to hear arguments from the prosecution and defense.
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Halyna Hutchins 2018
Matt Hayward/Getty
The judge could only make his decision based on court documents, according to legal expert Emily D. Baker, an attorney and former LA deputy district attorney who is not involved in the case.
But Baker previously told PEOPLE she thought the hearing was warranted: “It’s appropriate in a motion to dismiss to allow the attorneys to be heard.”
Sommer also presided over the trial of Rust’s gunsmith Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who was in charge of the guns on the set of the film. In March, she was convicted of manslaughter, and Sommer sentenced her to the maximum prison term of 18 months.
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Source: HIS Education