A US judge has rejected actor Alec Baldwin's motion to dismiss manslaughter charges in connection with the fatal shooting on the set of the film Rust in 2021, which killed Ukrainian-born cameraman Galina Hutchins, UNN reports citing the BBC.
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Baldwin's trial is scheduled for July.
Baldwin claimed that he did not pull the trigger, but merely pulled back the gun. He also argued that he was not responsible for Hutchins' death because he did not know that the gun had live ammunition and because there was not supposed to be live ammunition on the set.
In April, gunsmith Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who worked on the set, was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Last week, she appealed the sentence.
Baldwin, 66, was indicted by a grand jury in January on a new charge of involuntary manslaughter after prosecutors said new physical evidence had come to light. He has pleaded not guilty.
Similar charges against the Emmy Award-winning actor were dropped last year, just two weeks before the start of the criminal trial against him.
Baldwin's lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the case earlier this month, accusing prosecutors of "unethical humiliation" and "breaking almost every rule" to get the actor indicted by a grand jury.
At a virtual hearing on May 17, Alex Spiro and Luke Nikas presented their arguments before New Mexico District Court Judge Mary Marlow Sommer.
"This case involves an accident at the very edge of criminal law," Spiro said.
He noted that the charges had previously been dropped before special state prosecutors brought them back, saying they wanted to "humble" Baldwin.
On Friday evening, Judge Sommer denied the motion, rejecting arguments that the grand jury process was biased against the actor.
In a statement, Baldwin's lawyers said: "We look forward to our day in court.
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Galina Hutchins, 42, was shot dead with a gun that Baldwin used during a rehearsal on the set of the western Rust, which was filmed in New Mexico. Director Joel Souza was also wounded in the incident.