A court ruling on Friday put an involuntary manslaughter case against Alec Baldwin on track for trial in early July as a judge denied a request to dismiss the case on complaints that key evidence was damaged by the FBI during forensic testing.
Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer sided with prosecutors in rejecting a motion to dismiss the case.
Defense attorneys had argued that the gun in the fatal shooting was heavily damaged during FBI forensic testing before it could be examined for possible modifications or problems that might exonerate the actor-producer.
The ruling removes one of the last hurdles before prosecutors can bring the case to trial with jury selection scheduled for July 9 in Santa Fe.
Ultimately the person holding the gun is responsible for what happens with said gun.
That’s not true on movie sets though. Actors rely on armorers to keep everyone safe. Expecting actors to also be responsible would be unduly onerous. The system, when it works, works incredibly well. There have only been a handful of firearms accidents on sets. Which is crazy seeing as how almost every movie these days has guns in it somewhere.
The rust shooting had failures at multiple levels but the actor isn’t responsible for those failures.