Alec Baldwin Was Reportedly Offered Lenient Plea Deal in 'Rust' Case

Alec Baldwin could've walked away from the "Rust" shooting with no more than a slap on the wrist ... at least, if a new report is to be believed.

According to Variety, new court documents released Friday claim Baldwin was offered a lenient plea deal. However, according to them, the deal was taken off the table before AB could make up his mind.

The actor was reportedly offered a plea deal that was "identical to the petty misdemeanor deal accepted by Dave Halls."

Halls -- who served as first assistant director at the time of the shooting that resulted in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins -- received six months of unsupervised probation, a $500, 24 hours of community service and a mandatory firearm safety class.

Variety reports Baldwin was offered this deal October 5 and given until October 27 to decide ... but prosecutors allegedly took the deal away on October 17 and informed Baldwin's team they were going forward with a grand jury. Unclear what changed in that short window.

As we reported ... Baldwin and his attorney Alex Spiro filed to get the case dismissed Thursday claiming Santa Fe County D.A.'s office rigged the grand jury against Alec, pointing to biased witnesses and their alleged omission of relevant evidence that undermined the case against Baldwin.

His filing claims the D.A. didn't present the entirety of the testing the FBI did on his firearm ... which he claims would prove it could've been fired without him pulling the trigger.