Alec Baldwin Seeks to Throw Out Manslaughter Indictment inRustShooting Case

Alec Baldwin attends The Roundabout Gala 2023 in New York City.Photo:John Lamparski/Getty

John Lamparski/Getty

Alec Baldwin’s lawyers asked a judge to dismisshisRustmanslaughter case, accusing New Mexico prosecutors of “violating nearly every rule in the book” in its pursuit of an indictment against the actor.

The actor pleadednot guiltyon Jan. 31 and his trial isscheduled to start in July.

ArmorerHannah Gutierrez Reedwasfound guilty of involuntary manslaughterearlier this month. She wasacquittedof a separate charge of tampering with evidence.

Alec Baldwin.John Lamparski/Getty

In Thursday’s motion to dismiss, Baldwin’s lawyers accused prosecutors of leaking information to the press, claiming they did not know about prosecutors’ criminal case against Baldwin began in January 2023 until after theWall Street Journalcontacted them.

They also accused special prosecutor Kari Morrissey of speaking to the press the same day she told Baldwin of her plans topresent the case to a grand jury in October, six months after the previous special prosecutorsdropped the original charges against Baldwin. This was “yet another disclosure that violated basic rules governing grand jury secrecy,” his lawyers claim.

His lawyers also accused prosecutors of not presenting exculpatory evidence to the grand jury and claimed the state violated “Ex Post Facto clauses of the U.S. and New Mexico Constitutions” when they charged Baldwin with a “firearm enhancement that had not been enacted when the accident occurred.” (The firearms enhancement charge wasdropped in February 2023.)

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Prosecutors did not make witnesses who could have testified that it wasnot Baldwin’s responsibility to check the gunbefore filming available to the grand jury, his attorneys claim. Baldwin wanted Souza and other witnesses they believed could be helpful to Baldwin to testify, alleging that “every favorable fact was hidden, and all of the grand jury’s inquiries about exculpatory information were redirected to witnesses who misrepresented the facts or had no foundation for giving the answers.”

“Enough is enough,” Baldwin’s lawyers claimed. “This is an abuse of the system, and an abuse of an innocent person whose rights have been trampled to the extreme. The Court should dismiss the indictment.”

Later in the document, Baldwin’s lawyers claim prosecutors had “one goal,” to “indict Baldwin, no matter the truth, no matter the rules or Court rulings, and no matter what it took to do so.”

source: people.com