Alec Baldwin manslaughter case in 'Rust' shooting continues

Alec Baldwin is expected to stand trial on manslaughter charges in the 2021 killing of “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins after a New Mexico judge denied the actor's request to dismiss the case on Friday.

Baldwin's trial is scheduled for July.

Judge Mary Marlowe's decision comes after hearing closing arguments from Baldwin's attorneys and prosecutors in a Santa Fe court on May 17.

At that hearing, Special Prosecutor Kari T. Morrissey said, referring to Baldwin, that “the actor is responsible for the firearms once they are in their hands.”

But Baldwin's lawyers argued the case should be dropped because Morrissey failed to present critical evidence during a January grand jury proceeding that resulted in Baldwin's homicide indictment involuntary.

The manslaughter charge carries a maximum prison sentence of 18 months if convicted.

Hutchins was killed on October 21, 2021, as Baldwin rehearsed a scene on the set of “Rust.”

Baldwin said Hutchins told him to point the gun at her while he practiced a cross-draw maneuver. As he did so, he said, the gun fired a live round, fatally striking Hutchins and wounding the film's director, Joel Souza.

Baldwin claimed in interviews that he did not pull the trigger and that the gun malfunctioned.

In January 2023, prosecutors initially charged Baldwin and the film's gunsmith Hannah Gutierrez-Reed with manslaughter.

Two months later, the special prosecutor in the case, Andrea Reeb, resigned.

Just a month later, the special prosecutors who replaced Reeb cited “new facts in the case” when they announced they would temporarily dismiss the manslaughter charge against Baldwin.

Baldwin then flew from New York to Montana, where he filmed the film's remaining scenes as part of the settlement of a wrongful death claim from the Hutchins family.

In January 2024, the grand jury indicted Baldwin on the same manslaughter charge he previously faced in this case. He pleaded not guilty.

Gutierrez-Reed went to trial earlier this year. She was convicted in March of manslaughter, but jurors found her not guilty of tampering with evidence.

She is currently serving an 18-month sentence in the Western New Mexico Correctional Facility.

NBC News reached out to Gutierrez-Reed's attorney, Jason Bowles, for comment on the judge's decision on Baldwin's motion to dismiss.

Baldwin and Hutchins' husband, Matthew Hutchins, agreed in 2022 to settle on undisclosed terms the lawsuit his family filed against the actor, and announced that Matthew Hutchins would serve as executive producer of the film.

In a statement he released at the time, Matthew Hutchins said: “I have no interest in recriminations or assigning blame (to the producers or Mr. Baldwin). We all think Halyna's death was a terrible accident.

“I’m grateful that producers and the entertainment community came together to honor Halyna’s final work,” Hutchins said.