Alec Baldwin contests constitutionality of charge stemming from 'Rust' shooting

Actor Alec Baldwin on Friday asked a judge to dismiss a sentencing enhancement in the charges he faces over an a fatal shooting while filming for "Rust," contending that it stems from a law passed after the incident.

The office of First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies filed manslaughter charges against Baldwin in late January over the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, whom Baldwin shot on set. Included in the charges is a five-year firearm sentencing enhancement that Baldwin's attorney contend is unconstitutional.

"The prosecutors committed a basic legal error by charging Mr. Baldwin under a version of the firearm-enhancement statute that did not exist on the date of the accident," they argued, according to the Associated Press.

The U.S. Constitution bars ex post facto laws, which apply criminality retroactively to incidents that occurred prior to passage. 

West Coast Trial Lawyers President Neama Rahmani told the outlet that the sentencing enhancement "is a violation of the ex post facto clause of the constitution... The government can’t pass a law and retroactively punish someone under that law. The judge is likely going to toss that enhancement and so Baldwin is just looking at a maximum sentence of 18 months in jail."

Outside of the criminal case, Baldwin has already settled a civil dispute with Hutchins' widow, Matthew, agreeing to bring him on as an executive producer to finish the film. The actor faces a second suit from Hutchins' other relatives.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.