Judge drops charges against Alec Baldwin in Rust case, citing 'wilful ...

13 Jul 2024

CBC.ca

Entertainment·Updated

A New Mexico judge dismissed involuntary manslaughter charges against Alec Baldwin on Friday, agreeing with Baldwin's lawyers that prosecutors and police withheld evidence on the source of the live round that killed Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in 2021.

Actor was charged in fatal film set shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins

Thomson Reuters

· Posted: Jul 12, 2024 6:08 PM EDT | Last Updated: 8 minutes ago

Alec Baldwin brought to tears when judge dismisses charges against him in Rust killing

Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed charges of involuntary manslaughter against actor Alec Baldwin, in New Mexico. His defence lawyers accused Santa Fe law enforcement of hiding evidence of the source of the live round that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in 2021, failing to list the rounds in the Rust investigation file or inform the defence lawyers of their existence.

Three days after Baldwin's trial began, New Mexico district court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer ruled after hearing evidence on the defence request in a case that has been plagued by prosecutorial missteps since charges were first filed 18 months ago.

Breaking down in tears at the defence table, the Emmy-award winning actor turned to hug his crying wife Hilaria Baldwin as other family members wept in the public gallery.

Baldwin faced an unprecedented criminal prosecution as an actor for an on-set shooting and his lawyers said prosecutors dragged him through a "cesspool of improprieties." Baldwin and his family left court without speaking to reporters.

"The state's withholding of the evidence was wilful and deliberate," Sommer said in delivering her decision. "Dismissal with prejudice is warranted to ensure the integrity of the judicial system and the efficient administration of justice."

Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer opens a package of evidence not turned over to defence attorneys in the trial against Baldwin in Santa Fe on Friday. (Eddie Moore/Reuters)

The actor's lawyer Alex Spiro told the court that the Santa Fe sheriff's office took possession of live rounds in March as evidence in the case but failed to list them in the Rust investigation file or disclose their existence to defence lawyers.

"The prosecution felt it had to cheat to get the result it wanted," said legal analyst Duncan Levin, a New York defense attorney. "This is the worst of our system on display."

'I did not intend to mislead the court'

Erlinda Johnson, one of the state prosecutors, resigned from the case earlier on Friday.

"I did not intend to mislead the court," lead state prosecutor Kari Morrissey told the court after calling herself to the stand. "My understanding of what was dropped off at the sheriff's office is on this computer screen and it looks absolutely nothing like the live rounds from the set of Rust."

Hutchins died in Hollywood's first on-set shooting in nearly 30 years when Baldwin was directed to point a revolver at her as she set up a camera shot during filming southwest of Santa Fe. The weapon fired a .45 calibre round inadvertently loaded by the movie's armourer Hannah Gutierrez.

Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, left, is seen in this undated handout picture. (Andriy Semenyuk/Reuters)

The Colt .45 rounds at the centre of the dismissal were handed into the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office on March 6 by Troy Teske, a friend of Thell Reed, the stepfather of Rust armourer Hannah Gutierrez, on the same day Gutierrez was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for Hutchins's death.

A Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office technician, Marissa Poppel, testified on Thursday that the rounds did not match those collected on the set of Rust which were sent for FBI testing.

But when defence lawyers inspected them in court on Friday they found some had brass casings with the "Starline Brass" logo and silver, nickel primers, just like the six live rounds found on the set of Rust. Others looked like inert dummy rounds taken into evidence on the set.

"That turned out to be completely false, didn't it?" Spiro asked the lead investigator on the case Corporal Alexandria Hancock in cross examination on Friday regarding Poppel's testimony.

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The judge in Hannah Gutierrez-Reed's sentencing questioned the former Rust armourer's sense of remorse and sentenced her to 18 months in prison over the fatal on-set shooting of a cinematographer by Alec Baldwin. Gutierrez-Reed had requested probation over incarceration.

"You're correct," she said.

Sommer asked Hancock who decided to put Teske's ammunition into a separate case file number.

Hancock said it was the decision of her supervisor, prosecutors and herself.

Media gather outside the entrance to a Santa Fe ranch where Hutchins was fatally shot in October 2021. (Adria Malcolm/Reuters)

"Ms. Morrissey was part of that conversation?" asked Sommer, growing visibly angry.

"Yes," replied Hancock.

Spiro questioned Morrissey about her attitude toward his client, saying witnesses had reported she had characterized him with expletives said she would teach him a lesson.

"I never said to witnesses that I would teach him a lesson," she said.

Prosecutor Kari Morrissey takes the stand as her own witness during the Rust trial on Friday. (Luis Sanchez Saturno/The New Mexican/Reuters)

Prosecutors allege Baldwin played a role in the death of Hutchins because he handled the gun irresponsibly. His lawyers say Baldwin was failed by Gutierrez and others responsible for safety on the set, and that law enforcement agents were more interested in prosecuting their client than finding the source of a live round that killed Hutchins.