A New Mexico judge has rejected a request by Alec Baldwin to dismiss the sole criminal charge against him in a fatal shooting on the feature film set of Rust, keeping the case on track for a trial this summer.

Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer on Friday upheld an indictment charging the Hollywood actor with one count of involuntary manslaughter in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in 2021.

The judge rejected defence arguments that prosecutors flouted the rules of grand jury proceedings to divert attention away from exculpatory evidence and witnesses.

Special prosecutors have denied the accusations and said Baldwin made "shameless" attempts to escape culpability, highlighting contradictions in his statements to law enforcement, to workplace safety regulators and in a televised interview.

Friday's decision removes one of the last hurdles for prosecutors to put Baldwin on trial in July.

During a rehearsal on the set of the Western-genre film, Baldwin pointed a gun at Hutchins when the revolver went off, killing her and injuring director Joel Souza.

Baldwin has maintained that the revolver "went off" on its own and he did not pull the trigger.

Baldwin was first charged in January 2023 for involuntary manslaughter and a firearm enhancement that carried a potential five-year prison sentence. 

A month later, prosecutors later dropped the firearm enhancement charge after Baldwin's lawyers argued the law was not in force when the shooting occurred. 

The second charge was dropped shortly after in April following the resignation of two state prosecutors and evidence from Baldwin's lawyers that the revolver had been modified.

FBI testing eight months earlier found Baldwin's gun "functioned normally."

Baldwin was charged for a second time with involuntary manslaughter in January this year and faces a maximum sentence of 1.5 years in prison. He has pleaded not guilty.

In April, Rust armourer Hannah Gutierrez was sentenced to the maximum 18 months in state prison after a New Mexico jury found her guilty of involuntary manslaughter.

AP/Reuters