ABC News chief legal analyst Dan Abrams has said that “prosecutors threw the book” at Hollywood star Alec Baldwin by criminally charging him with two counts of involuntary manslaughter.
The charges may see the actor sent to prison for five years if convicted.
Abrams said: “The prosecutors just threw the book at Alec Baldwin and Hannah Gutierrez Reed, they threw everything they possibly could at both of them.
“In particular, when you talk about these involuntary manslaughter charges, typically in the state of New Mexico, the maximum punishment for involuntary manslaughter is up to 18 months.
“Well, they have added an enhancement on one of the charges, a firearm enhancement, which adds a potential mandatory penalty because a firearm was involved.
“The firearm enhancement makes the crime punishable by a mandatory five years.
“Prosecutors have gone all out in determining that Alec Baldwin and Hannah Gutierrez Reed are criminally responsible.
“I’ll give you one more quote from them.
“They say ‘The evidence shows a pattern of disregard for safety on the Rust film set. In New Mexico, there’s no room for sets that don’t take our gun safety and public safety seriously.’
“Let me add one other point here, which is the next step in this proceeding will be a preliminary hearing, which will be a kind of mini-trial where a judge will determine, is there enough evidence to go to trial,” he said.
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“We still don’t know all the evidence that the prosecution has,” said Miguel Custodio, Los Angeles attorney and founder of Dubey LLP. “We’re still operating on limited information.”
“They were smart in these two charges, because if the jury is a little unconvinced on the serious one, then the lesser one is an option,” Custodio added.
“A potential sentence should not be a factor, but we know that jurors will do their own research.
“This is one of those where it’s everywhere in the media — I definitely think that there is going to be that star factor.”
“That’s a stretch,” said Neama Rahmani, a trial lawyer, former federal prosecutor said of the “enhancement” that could see Alec locked up for five years.
“It’s the most aggressive approach they could have taken with this case.”
