Prosecutors in the Alec Baldwin “Rust” film set shooting case are looking pretty silly right now. There are two main reasons for that: They just had to drop their toughest gun penalty due to an elementary legal error, and their justification for correcting that error is foolish at best.
Here’s what happened.
As I explained last week, Baldwin’s attorneys challenged the gun-charge enhancement that New Mexico prosecutors initially tagged on the actor for the 2021 shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. (Baldwin has denied any wrongdoing.) The enhancement carries a five-year mandatory penalty, instead of the 18 months he could otherwise face if convicted of involuntary manslaughter. The problem with that enhancement, however, is that it didn’t become law until after the alleged crime. That’s a big no-no, Constitution-wise, as Baldwin’s attorneys pointed out.
If a prosecutor is distracted by legal arguments, then they’re in the wrong line of work.
District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies’ office apparently agreed. Her office filed an amended charge Friday that didn’t include the enhancement. And while it’s amateurish to have brought a seemingly illegal charge, the prosecution appears to have made the right move in correcting the error.
But the DA’s explanation for why the office agreed to downgrade the charge is even more shocking than the legal flop itself. According to spokesperson Heather Brewer:
In order to avoid further litigious distractions by Mr. Baldwin and his attorneys, the District Attorney and the special prosecutor 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.
At least a couple of things are wrong with this statement.
For starters, it’s difficult to believe that the prosecutor is dropping the most serious potential punishment to…
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