DEUS EX MACHINA

Alec Baldwin’s Lawyers Claim ‘Rust’ Gun Was Damaged by FBI

Attorneys for the beleaguered actor are seeking to get dismissed the charges of involuntary manslaughter he faces in connection with the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

Attorneys for Alec Baldwin are pushing for the involuntary manslaughter charges he faces to be thrown out, arguing in a new court filing that prosecutors withheld evidence proving that the gun at the heart of the case was damaged. In a virtual court hearing on Monday, the actor’s lawyers said that the Colt .45 revolver that went off during a rehearsal for a scene in the scuttled Western Rust, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, was “destroyed” during FBI testing in 2022. An examiner struck the firearm with a mallet, breaking it into pieces. “They understood that this was potentially exculpatory evidence and they destroyed it anyway,” John Bash said, according to CBS News. “It’s outrageous and it requires dismissal.” Bash and his team are attempting to make the case that the gun went off due to a mechanical issue. Baldwin himself has denied pulling the trigger. Prosecutors on Monday countered that any exculpatory value the gun held “in the condition it was in on Oct. 21, 2021 is extremely low.” The judge presiding over the three-hour hearing said she would issue her ruling on Friday. Should the charges not be dismissed, Baldwin will go to trial on July 10.