'Rust' Prosecutors Accused Of Trying To 'Humble' An 'Arrogant' Alec Baldwin

The legal team representing actor Alec Baldwin is firing back at “Rust” prosecutors after their latest court filing.

In court documents obtained by The Blast, the “30 Rock” actor’s legal team fired back at the prosecution’s response to getting Baldwin’s charges dismissed.

In the latest court filing dating Monday, April 22, Alec Baldwin’s legal team fought back against the prosecution and Special Prosecutor Kari Morrissey, claiming that, for her, the “Rust” trial has “never been about the law.”

The court filing notes that the prosecutors responded to their initial bid to get the case dismissed with “a 32-page jeremiad against Baldwin and his lawyers that does not cite a single legal decision, does not distinguish Baldwin’s authorities, and spends no more than five pages addressing the core legal issues raised in Baldwin’s motion.

“This face bears repeating: the State does not cite a single legal decision in its entire brief. Literally. A legal brief without any legal authority is not worth the paper it’s written on,” the filing continues, not that the trial is “about using the justice system to ‘humble’ an ‘arrogant’ celebrity that she dislikes.”

In January 2023, the “Supercell” actor was charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter. However, those charges were dropped in April 2023, pending further investigation into the weapon that went off, striking and killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Baldwin has consistently maintained that he never pulled the trigger on the weapon.

However, after an FBI forensic examination concluded that the weapon could not have gone off without being fired, Baldwin was again charged with involuntary manslaughter in January 2024. He pleaded not guilty amid attempts to get the case thrown out based on claims that the special prosecutors gave “prejudicial” and “misleading” instructions to the grand jurors.

Only recently did the public learn that Alec Baldwin had actually been offered a plea deal on October 5, 2023. According to court documents obtained by The Blast, the plea deal was offered to ensure “that similarly situated defendants do not receive disparate treatment.”

“Rust” first assistant director David Halls received probation and no time behind bars after he accepted a plea deal in connection with the death of Halyna Hutchins. Baldwin was given similar terms under his plea deal and had until October 27, 2023, to accept the terms. However, his legal team claims the offer was rescinded before the deadline.

Although Morrissey claims that Baldwin’s legal team included “false and misleading” details in their filing, his legal team stated in their court filing that “Morrissey says she withdrew the offer because she believes Baldwin had 'commissioned his own documentary' about Hutchins' death and sought to interview witnesses for the purported film.”

Even though the trial does not start until July, one insider close to the Baldwin family revealed that he is looking forward to the trial being done and over with. “It continues to be a very stressful situation for Alec and Hilaria. A not guilty verdict for Hannah would have caused less stress,” a source told People magazine. “He still trusts his defense, though. They just want the trial over with.”

Armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed also faced charges of involuntary manslaughter. It took a jury less than three hours to find her guilty and Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer sentenced her to the maximum state sentence of 18 months, claiming that the rookie did not seem remorseful. Judge Sommer will oversee Baldwin's trial as well.

Baldwin's current legal trouble is said to be a source of considerable stress for his wife, Hilaria Baldwin, 40, with whom the actor shares seven children ranging in age from one to ten. In January, a source told People magazine that both the actor and his wife found it “frustrating” to face charges again after they had already been dropped.

"It’s frustrating for them both that Alec is being recharged. They knew there was a possibility there would be a new indictment. The back and forth is hard," the insider said at the time. When speaking about the fatal shooting of Halyna Hutchins in a 2022 interview with Extra, Hilaria said, “We’re not okay. We can’t be okay. No one’s okay. It was and is a tragedy that nobody could ever have imagined.”