Actor Alec Baldwin may not have a very good story in terms of explaining how he wound up killing Halyna Hutchins, but he clearly has some good lawyers working on his behalf. His team won a key challenge in the case today in Santa Fe after convincing the District Attorney to drop a firearm enhancement attached to the involuntary manslaughter charge he is facing. This was a significant win for Baldwin because the firearm enhancement was the most serious element of the charges in terms of possible sentencing. Even if he winds up being convicted on the remaining charges now, he will be facing a significantly shorter time behind bars, assuming he does any time at all. (NY Post)

Alec Baldwin won a key legal battle Monday that saw one of his charges over the deadly shooting of Halyna Hutchins getting dropped — drastically reducing the potential prison time he is facing.

The Santa Fe County district attorney filed paperwork on Monday that dropped a firearm enhancement charge.

Baldwin was looking at the possibility of a five-year mandatory sentence under the original charges. With this change, the most he could receive is 18 months. And that’s not a mandatory minimum. He could still wind up with a deal where he does only part of that or none at all.

So why would the state drop that element of the charges? Fox News has some additional details as to the thinking of the prosecution. Or at least what they are offering as an excuse.

First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies was the one to file the paperwork altering the charges. She is quoted as saying she did it “to avoid further litigious distractions by Mr. Baldwin and his attorneys.” She tossed in another verbal shot at Baldwin and his team, stressing that her department’s goal is to secure justice, not “securing billable hours for big-city attorneys.”

I wasn’t in the room while the negotiations took place, but that doesn’t sound very probable, does it? Prosecutors don’t typically toss out charges to avoid “litigious distractions” from a defendant’s legal team. Either they believe they can make the charges stick or they don’t. The firearm enhancement sounded like a bit of a stretch to me from the beginning. The state would need to show Baldwin knowingly used a firearm in the commission of a crime.

The gun in question was supposed to be “cold” and unable to be discharged. Numerous people who were interviewed during the investigation confirmed that Alec Baldwin honestly believed he had a revolver with nothing but blanks in it, making it rather dubious to describe it as a “firearm” for the purposes of that charge.

It seems entirely possible that the defense mounted a solid enough argument that they could beat the firearm enhancement charge. The prosecution might have had second thoughts about their chances of obtaining a guilty verdict and decided to take what they could get and move forward. All of the statements being made outside the courtroom are likely little more than drama.

Now Baldwin can move forward with his reported plan to finish shooting the movie. I still find that an incredibly offensive decision, but this is Hollywood we’re talking about. These people are going to just do what they do I suppose.