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Judge Orders Alec Baldwin to Face Trial for ‘Rust’ Shooting

Lawyers for the actor argued the case should be dismissed because a grand jury received limited testimony. The judge didn’t budge.

A judge has rejected actor Alec Baldwin’s bid to dismiss the involuntary manslaughter case against him for the 2021 fatal on-set shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Judge Mary Marlowe’s decision follows a hearing on May 17, in which lawyers for the actor argued the case should be dismissed because a grand jury received limited testimony in January, according to NBC News. That jury voted to indict Baldwin on two counts of involuntary manslaughter. Baldwin has pleaded not guilty, and is expected to go to trial in July. He has maintained that he did not pull the trigger and that the gun malfunctioned during the filming of the movie Rust. Special prosecutor Kari T. Morissey argued that “the actor has responsibility for the firearms once it is in their hands.” In March, the armorer for Rust, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter, and sentenced to 18 month in prison. She was found not guilty of tampering with evidence.