Yes. New Mexico is one of the very poorest states and must ration its expenses carefully. "Thank God for Mississippi!" is a statement I have heard more than once over there. Hopefully adequate funding will be available this time to prosecute Alec to the full extent of the law. He has lied about not pulling the trigger and other serious matters since the get-go.

Alec Baldwin’s Hamptons Farmhouse Gets a $10 Million Price Cut

Posted a few days ago in Mansion Global
Alec Baldwin’s Hamptons Farmhouse Gets a $10 Million Price Cut - Mansion Global

I'm really curious how you think this is a slam dunk for the defense. I would also point out the huge falsehood in the article. It was not a "prop" gun. It was a real gun capable of firing real bullets. And the article points out that Baldwin knew it was a real gun and even took precautions in some instances prior to killing a person.

I do have some biases against Baldwin. Mainly my bias is because he is rabidly and vocally anti-legal gun owners. His spewing of anti-2A propaganda tells me that he should know something about the subject. He should know the law and how to be sure a gun is safe an how to treat that gun. Lastly, if it were me in a position where a person of authority told me a gun was not loaded, and I decided to take their word for it and kill someone, I would have been convicted of manslaughter at the very least. Being a "celebrity" should offer no privilege in this matter.

The gun Baldwin fired was so much tampered with by investigators that it was no longer the same prop gun described above.

New "Rust" shooting criminal charges filed against Alec Baldwin for incident that killed Halyna Hutchins - CBS News

There’s really not much more to it.

Fixed the above sentence by removing the word "prop".

If true (I don't see that in the article you posted) it's completely irrelevant. Baldwin's own words during filming indicate he knew the gun could shoot and was dangerous. The fact that he indeed shot someone proves that, of course. If you are arguing that he didn't pull the trigger and the gun malfunctioned, that simply doesn't happen.

The gun was not "tampered with". A few parts broke during testing and the broken parts were replaced to conduct further testing.

Alec lied when he told law enforcement and others he did not pull the trigger. He pointed the gun at a woman, pulled the trigger and shot her, killing her.

"GUN ANALYSIS

Experts in ballistics and forensic testing based in Arizona and New Mexico relied on replacement parts to reassemble the gun fired by Baldwin — after parts of the pistol were broken during earlier testing by the FBI. Their report examined the gun and markings it left on a spent cartridge to conclude that the trigger had to have been pulled or depressed.


The analysis led by Lucien Haag of Forensic Science Services in Arizona stated that although Baldwin repeatedly denied pulling the trigger, “given the tests, findings and observations reported here, the trigger had to be pulled or depressed sufficiently to release the fully cocked or retracted hammer of the evidence revolver.”

An earlier FBI report on the agency’s analysis of the gun found that, as is common with firearms of that design, it could go off without pulling the trigger if force was applied to an uncocked hammer — such as by dropping the weapon.

The only way the testers could get it to fire was by striking the gun with a mallet while the hammer was down and resting on the cartridge, or by pulling the trigger while it was fully cocked. The gun eventually broke during testing."

From: What to know about grand jury evidence on actor Alec Baldwin and the 2021 fatal film set shooting | Fox 59

It is not his job on a movie set to check to see if the weapon has real bullets. And given the
trauma of the event I would think his memory would not be all that good if he had pulled the trigger. Or not.

This is on a MOVIE SET not gun range. And he does not seem to be a big fan of shooting guns.

And from what I understand this is an old gun which could fire given the right circumstances. Alec Baldwin could have fired Rust gun without using trigger

Nonsense.

Alec knew darned well he had pulled the trigger, thereby firing the revolver, and lied about not doing so multiple times. Furthermore he negligently failed to check the revolver for live rounds, especially before pointing it at someone and pulling the trigger, ignoring the most basic rules of firearm safety. It was not for an actual shoot (sorry about using that word here) on an active movie set after the director yelled "Action". He happened to be on a set when he was carelessly fooling around with a loaded gun like a four year old who did not know any better might do. His pointing the loaded revolver which he failed to check for live rounds at the woman, then pulling the trigger, thereby shooting and killing her is simply inexcusable.

Witness at trial recounts fatal shooting of cinematographer by Alec Baldwin - ABC News

Alec Baldwin to stand trial this summer on a charge stemming from deadly '''Rust''' movie set shooting - ABC News