Alec Baldwin’s prosecutor claims manslaughter case was “improperly” dismissed
A prosecutor has claimed that the involuntary manslaughter case against Hollywood star Alec Baldwin was “improperly” thrown out by the judge earlier this month, because they misunderstood the evidence.
On July 12th, the case against Baldwin for the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust was dropped in New Mexico. Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed the lawsuit and declared it couldn’t be resubmitted.
This ruling emerged after Baldwin’s defence argued that the prosecution had concealed vital evidence regarding the ammunition used by the court. The prosecution asserted throughout that the actor had broken “the cardinal rules of firearm safety” on set, but his defence disputed this, maintaining he had “committed no crime” and was merely “an actor acting”.
They reasoned that he was not accountable for safety checks and did not pull the trigger.
Baldwin faced up to 18 months in prison if he was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter. When the case was dismissed, the judge said: “The late discovery of this evidence during trial has impeded the effective use of evidence in such a way that it has impacted the fundamental fairness of the proceedings.”
Judge Sommer also added that the prosecution had been “highly prejudicial” towards Baldwin and apologised as she said there’s “no way for the court to right this wrong”.
Since the dismissal, the armourer on the set of Rust, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, has also asked for a judge to overturn her March conviction of involuntary manslaughter. She maintains that she was subjected to the same misconduct trial that saw Baldwin’s trial thrown out earlier that week. She is currently serving an 18-month sentence.
In a document filed on July 16th, Gutierrez- Reed’s attorney, Jason Bowles, argued important evidence should have been disclosed before her trial, which he thinks would have impacted the case. “How can it be any different with Ms. Gutierrez-Reed’s case, with this proven litany of serious discovery abuses?” he asserted in his motion.
Kari Morrissey, the lead prosecutor in the Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed cases, asked the judge to reject the former’s request. Responding to the motion from the armourer, Morrissey claimed that Sommer dropped Baldwin’s case “without hearing any of the testimony or argument”.
“Although the court’s final order has not yet been filed, undersigned counsel contends that the court misunderstood the testimony on July 12, 2024, and improperly dismissed the case against Mr Baldwin,” Morrissey expressed in the court documents.
Significantly, Morrissey maintained that even if Sommer ruled that the “dismissal of the case against Mr Baldwin was proper” there is “huge difference” in the Gutierrez-Reed case because of ammunition evidence.
Baldwin is yet to respond to Morrissey’s comments.
In other news, Baldwin’s lawyers are considering “future litigation” against the Santa Fe sheriff and prosecutors over the Rust shooting trial.
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