The New Mexico prosecutor in the case of Alec Baldwin has changed the culpable homicide charge. That decision was made after lawyers for the actor objected. The gun law on which the prosecution relied would not have existed at the time of the fatal shooting on the set of the film Rust in 2021.
According to the American newspaper The New York Times Baldwin can now face a prison sentence of up to eighteen months, instead of five years.
A spokesperson for the public prosecutor says he wants to avoid “further distractions” from the case. The Public Prosecution Service wants “justice” to come and does not want to provide extra “billable hours for big city lawyers”. The charges have also been amended for gunsmith Hannah Gutierrez-Reed.
Baldwin was formally charged with wrongful death in late January. That happened after he was involved in an accident that left camerawoman Halyna Hutchins fatally injured. The actor was practicing on set with a revolver he said he believed to be unloaded. The gun went off anyway, hitting Hutchins in the chest. Baldwin has always denied responsibility for the shooting.
