The involuntary manslaughter trial against Alex Baldwin ended unexpectedly Friday when the judge found that key evidence about a fatal shooting on the set of the movie “Rust” had been hidden from the defense and dismissed the case.
Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer, presiding over the trial in Santa Fe, New Mexico, said possible bullet holes in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, which could have been relevant to Baldwin’s case, were not shared with his lawyers by police and prosecutors.
Top Hollywood actors immediately cried foul as the case – which could have seen them sentenced to 18 months in prison if convicted – was suddenly presented with sensationalist visuals.
“The state’s deliberate withholding of this information was deliberate and intentional. If this conduct does not rise to the level of bad faith, it certainly comes so close to bad faith that it shows signs of egregious prejudice,” Marlowe Sommer said.
“The court concludes that this conduct is highly prejudicial to the defendant.”
During a rehearsal in October 2021, Baldwin was holding a gun in Hutchins’ direction when the gun went off, killing Hutchins and injuring the film’s director.
The film’s weapons manufacturer, Hannah Gutierrez, who loaded the deadly weapon, is already serving 18 months in prison for involuntary manslaughter.
Baldwin was charged with the same offense. Prosecutors claim he ignored basic gun safety laws and acted negligently on set.
Baldwin’s celebrity attorney, Alex Spiro, argued that the actor had no responsibility to check the weapon for lethal contents and did not know it contained live bullets.
But the defence case was also based on discrediting the police investigation.
And Spiro presented evidence Thursday that live bullets potentially connected to the shooting were turned over to police but not provided to Baldwin’s attorneys.
‘buried’
The bullets were handed in to police by a “good samaritan” earlier this year, more than two years after the “Rust” tragedy.
The “Good Samaritan” was a former police officer and armorer who was a family friend of Gutierrez. He told police the bullets matched the ones that killed Hutchins.
Spiro accused police of “burying” evidence by not filing it as part of the “Rust” case, depriving the defense of a chance to look at it.
“It was a perfect plan,” he told the court.
Under questioning by Spiro, crime scene technician Marisa Poppel said she had made a catalog of the bullets but was told not to file them under the “rust” case.
Special prosecutor Carrie Morrissey told the court she had never seen or heard of the bullets before this week.
But when it emerged that Morrissey had been present at the discussions in which it was decided the bullets would not be included in the “Rust” case file, Morrissey volunteered to call himself as a witness in a last-ditch effort to save the state’s case.
He claimed that the allegedly “buried” bullets did not match the live bullets on the set of “Rust,” and had been stored in a different state, Arizona, until the day of the tragic shooting.
Marlo Sommer did not agree and dismissed the case, leading to emotional scenes between Baldwin and his family.
‘dumb-struck’
Legal experts say it is highly unlikely that Baldwin will ever appear in criminal court again in connection with the shooting, though he could still face civil lawsuits.
“As far as the criminal proceedings go, that’s over. They can’t refile,” said Los Angeles attorney Trey Lovell.
“It’s been dismissed with prejudice. To try it again would be double jeopardy. You can’t do that.”
University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias agreed that “on the criminal side, I think it’s done.”
“The prosecutors may try to file some sort of extraordinary appeal. But I don’t think any appellate court will agree with the prosecutors,” he said.
The withheld evidence could benefit the film’s armorer Gutierrez, who has already filed an appeal, and the film’s first assistant director, David Halls, who has taken a plea deal and admitted negligence.
Los Angeles-based lawyer Christopher Melcher told AFP he was “shocked” by the case’s abrupt end.
“This case unfolded at a speed I’ve never seen before … it was really amazing to watch.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
