A New Mexico judge on Friday brought a sudden and stunning end to the involuntary manslaughter case against Alec Baldwin, dismissing it in the middle of the US actor’s trial and saying it cannot be filed again.
New Mexico District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed the case based on misconduct of police and prosecutors over the withholding of evidence from the defense in the 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film Rust.
Baldwin cried, hugged his two attorneys, gestured to the front of the court, then turned to hug his crying wife, Hilaria Baldwin, the mother of seven of his eight children, holding the embrace for 12 seconds. He climbed into a sport utility vehicle outside the Santa Fe County courthouse without speaking to the media.
Photo: AFP
“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,” Marlowe Sommer said. “If this conduct does not rise to the level of bad faith it certainly comes so near to bad faith to show signs of scorching.”
The case-ending evidence, revealed during testimony on Thursday, 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 Alec Baldwin’s lawyers said prosecutors “buried” it and filed a motion to dismiss the case.
The judge’s decision ends the criminal culpability of the 66-year-old actor after a nearly three-year saga that began when a revolver he was pointing at Hutchins during a rehearsal went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza.
“Our goal from the beginning was to seek justice for Halyna Hutchins,” New Mexico District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said in a statement. “We are disappointed that the case did not get to the jury.”
The career of the Hunt for Red October and 30 Rock star — a frequent Saturday Night Live host who has been a household name for more than three decades — had been put into doubt, and he could have received 18 months in prison if convicted.
It is not clear what opportunities would await him, but he and his wife last month signed an agreement for a reality show on their large family.
Alec Baldwin and other producers still face civil lawsuits from Hutchins’ parents and sister, and from crew members. Hutchins’ widower and young son had agreed to settle their own lawsuit about a year after the shooting, with the widower becoming an executive producer on the then-unfinished film.
That settlement was reportedly in jeopardy before the trial, and the lawyer who filed it, Brian Panish, said in a statement that “we look forward to presenting all the evidence to a jury and holding Mr Baldwin accountable for his actions in the senseless death of Halyna Hutchins.”
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the film’s armorer, had previously been sentenced to 18 months in prison on an involuntary manslaughter conviction.
Rust, an independent Western, was completed in Montana. It has not found a distributor or been seen by the public.
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