‘Enough Is Enough’: Alec Baldwin Asks Judge To Dismiss Manslaughter Charges
HuffPost
“This is an abuse of the system, and an abuse of an innocent person whose rights have been trampled to the extreme," the actor's lawyers wrote.
Alec Baldwin’s attorneys asked a judge to dismiss the involuntary manslaughter indictment against him on Thursday, accusing prosecutors of misconduct and claiming the actor had been dragged “through the cesspool created by their improprieties.”
Baldwin’s lawyers laid out their claims in a 52-page filing, alleging prosecutors violated “nearly every rule in the book” before he was indicted by a grand jury in January. The filing claims prosecutors withheld “substantial exculpatory and favorable evidence,” and failed to call enough witnesses who were on set of the film “Rust” when the shooting took place.
“Enough is enough,” the filing reads. “This is an abuse of the system, and an abuse of an innocent person whose rights have been trampled to the extreme.”
The New York Times notes that in New Mexico, defendants are not allowed to call their own witnesses when a case is presented to a grand jury, but can submit a document to prosecutors that includes evidence that can help their client. The filing Thursday notes that Baldwin’s team proposed multiple people who were on set during the shooting, including the film’s director and assistant director. Baldwin’s attorneys claimed testimony from the men could have helped grand jurors better understand safety procedures surrounding guns on film sets.
But prosecutors called just one witness Baldwin’s team proposed, the lead detective on the case.