SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Prosecutors have dropped the possibility of a sentence enhancement that could have carried a mandatory five-year sentence against Alec Baldwin in a fatal film-set shooting, according to new court filings made public Monday.
The actor-producer’s attorneys had earlier objected to the enhancement, saying it was unconstitutional because it was added after the October 2021 shooting.
“The prosecutors committed a basic legal error by charging Mr. Baldwin under a version of the firearm-enhancement statue that did not exist on the date of the accident,” Baldwin’s attorneys said in an earlier court filing.
Baldwin’s attorney declined to comment.
Baldwin and Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the weapons supervisor on the set of the film “Rust,” were charged last month with felony involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who died shortly who died shortly after being wounded during rehearsals at a ranch on the outskirts of Santa Fe.