Alex Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter trial is on track to take place next month despite his lawyers bid to have the charge dismissed.
Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer rejected a motion to dismiss the case, the third time in five weeks she ruled to uphold the charge, People Magazine reported.
Baldwin’s lawyers argued key evidence related to the prop gun the actor allegedly fired, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza, was destroyed.
The deadly October 2021 incident occurred on the set of the Western “Rust.”
The “30 Rock” star’s trial is set to begin July 9. He faces up to 18 months in prison.
“Government agents knew that the firearm would not survive their clumsy ‘tests’ intact,” his attorneys argued in a May court filing.
“But at the insistence of prosecutors eager to prove a celebrity’s guilt, they nevertheless blundered ahead without preserving the original state of the firearm through photographs, video or other means,” they continued.
The FBI conducted an accidental discharge test on the gun by striking it from several angles with a mallet, eventually breaking it. Defense attorneys argued that hindered the ability to examine it for possible modifications or defects which could exonerate Baldwin.
The actor-producer has maintained his innocence, insisting he cocked the hammer but did not pull the trigger on the weapon.
But Marlowe Sommer ruled the destruction of internal components of the gun “is not highly prejudicial” to a fair trial, and found the legal team failed to demonstrate bad faith by investigators, according to reports.
Prosecutors said it was “unfortunate” the gun broke, but it wasn’t destroyed.
In May, the New Mexico judge rejected defense arguments that prosecutors defied the rules of grand jury proceedings. Defense attorneys have also argued the 66-year-old actor didn’t even commit a crime, as it was “incomprehensible” there would be live rounds on the set.
They argued it was the responsibility of the film’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, to ensure the gun didn’t contain live rounds.
Gutierrez-Reed is currently serving 18 months in prison in connection with Hutchins’ death.
Her attorneys filed new legal documents on Thursday accusing prosecutors of burying a report claiming there were “unexplained” alterations made to the trigger of the gun that killed Hutchins, according to TMZ.
Last summer, gun expert Lucien Haag noted markings on the gun that did “not appear to be original manufacturing marks,” or the result of damage from FBI testing.
This week, however, he testified that he no longer stands by his report and believes the marks were made during FBI testing, Rolling Stone reported.
The filming of the movie eventually resumed but moved to Montana under an agreement with Hutchins’ husband that also made him an executive producer.
The finished film has not yet been released.
