Alec Baldwin is counting his lucky stars.
New Mexico prosecutors announced Monday they have dropped the firearm enhancement against him, which would significantly reduce his prison sentence should he be convicted of manslaughter in the death of Halyna Hutchins on the set of “Rust” in October 2021.
Mary Carmack -Altwies, New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney, announced last month that Baldwin was facing two involuntary murder charges.
Involuntary killing is a fourth-degree crime that carries an 18-month sentence.
Monday, the Santa Fe District Attorney’s Office announced that the firearms enhancement against Baldwin & Gutierrez Rice had been dropped. Court documents indicate that the enhancement was dropped Friday.
“To prevent any further litigious distractions by Mr. Baldwin, his lawyers,” Carmack Altwies stated. “The priority for the prosecution is to ensure justice and not the billable hour for big city attorneys.”
The lawyers Gutierrez-Reed and Baldwin argued that the firearm enlargement was unconstitutional because it became law after the shooting.
Experts predicted that Baldwin would spend less time in prison if convicted. The ex post facto clause in Article 1 Section 10 prohibits states from charging criminal charges retroactively for crimes committed before a law is passed.
Baldwin’s lawyers claimed that New Mexico prosecutors made a fundamental law error by retroactively accusing Baldwin of a crime under a law that did not exist at the time.
Axios reports Baldwin will make his court debut on Friday.