Alec Baldwin is asking a New Mexico court to throw out an enhancement to the involuntary manslaughter charges against him that would lead to a five-year prison sentence if he was convicted.
In a motion filed Friday, Baldwin’s attorneys argued that the actor has been unlawfully charged with a so-called firearm-enhancement to the involuntary manslaughter charge in connection with the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on Oct. 21, 2021.
The current version of the fire-enhancement statute was not enacted until May 18, 2022, seven months after the deadly shooting on the western movie ‘Rust,’ attorneys Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro of Quinn Emanuel argued in their motion.
“The prosecutors in this case have committed an unconstitutional and elementary legal error by charging Mr. Baldwin under a statute that did not exist on the date of the accident,” the attorneys for Baldwin wrote in their motion filed in New Mexico’s 1st Judicial District Court on Friday.
Baldwin has denied culpability, citing negligence by other crew members. The actor, who was also a producer in the film, has said that he did not pull the trigger of the prop gun that accidentally discharged during a rehearsal, killing Hutchins and injuring the film’s director Joel Souza.
If granted, the motion would be a setback for prosecutors in their case against Baldwin, who also faces a string of lawsuits from the Hutchins family and crew members. This week, Hutchins’ parents and sister sued Baldwin and other producers and crew members for battery and negligence.
Baldwin faces two counts of involuntary manslaughter; a jury can only pick one of the charges. If found guilty of either, Baldwin could face 18 months in prison. But one of the two charges, prosecutors have said, carries a five-year mandatory prison term because a firearm was involved.
The office for the district attorney had no immediate comment.
The motion is the latest challenge Baldwin’s legal camp has made to 1st Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies and special prosecutor Andrea Reeb.
Earlier this week, Baldwin asked the court to have Reeb disqualified from the case, arguing the New Mexico Constitution prevents her as a state legislator from simultaneously holding a position in the judicial or executive branch of government.
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