A prosecutor who led the case against Alec Baldwin has asked a New Mexico judge to reconsider the decision to dismiss the involuntary manslaughter charge against the actor in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of the western movie Rust.
The case against Baldwin was dismissed in dramatic fashion in July when, halfway through the trial, a judge found the prosecution and law enforcement had intentionally withheld evidence in the case that could have been favorable to the actor.
Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed the charge against Baldwin with prejudice, meaning it can’t be revived once appeals of the decision are exhausted. She ruled that the state withheld information in a manner that was “intentional and deliberate”. During the dramatic proceedings in July, Kari Morrissey, the special prosecutor who led the state’s case against Baldwin, was accused of direct involvement in the decision to withhold evidence.
In a court filing made public on Wednesday, Morrissey said there were “insufficient facts” to support the judge’s ruling. Morrissey argued that the evidence in question was not relevant to Baldwin’s defense.
“No one on the prosecution team ever intentionally kept evidence from the defendant, it simply didn’t occur to the prosecution that the rounds were relevant to the case,” Morrissey wrote in the filing.
Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer on the film Rust, was pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal in 2021 when it went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer – but not the trigger – and the revolver fired.
The case-ending evidence was ammunition that was brought into the sheriff’s office in March by a man who said it could be related to Hutchins’ killing. Prosecutors said they deemed the ammo unrelated and unimportant, while Baldwin’s lawyers alleged that they “buried” it and filed a motion to dismiss the case.
Legal analysts said the state’s conduct in the case amounted to a “constitutional violation”.
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the film’s armorer, is serving an 18-month sentence on a conviction for involuntary manslaughter. She was accused of flouting standard safety protocols and missing multiple opportunities to detect forbidden live ammunition on set. David Halls, the film’s assistant director and safety coordinator, pleaded no contest to negligent use of a deadly weapon.
It has never been officially determined who brought the live rounds that killed Hutchins to the set, though prosecutors allege that Gutierrez-Reed was responsible.
