Alec Baldwin’s murder trial collapsed in spectacular fashion Friday when a judge determined that key evidence about a fatal shootout on the set of “Rust” was hidden from the defense and dismissed the case. Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer, presiding over the trial in Santa Fe, New Mexico, said police and prosecutors had not shared with his lawyers bullets linked to the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins that could have been favorable to Baldwin’s case. The Hollywood star immediately began crying when the case, which could have sentenced him to 18 months in prison if convicted, was abruptly dismissed with sensational scenes. The state’s deliberate concealment 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 flagrant prejudice,” Marlowe Sommer said.
“The court concludes that this conduct is highly prejudicial to the defendant.” Baldwin was pointing a gun at Hutchins during rehearsals in October 2021 when the gun fired, killing Hutchins and wounding the film’s director. The film’s gunsmith Hannah Gutierrez, who loaded the lethal weapon, is already serving 18 months in prison for involuntary manslaughter. Baldwin also faced the same charge. Prosecutors claim he ignored basic gun safety laws and acted negligently on set. Baldwin’s celebrity lawyer, Alex Spiro, argued that the actor had no responsibility to verify the gun’s lethal contents and did not know it contained real bullets. But the defense’s argument was also largely based on discrediting the police investigation. And Spiro presented evidence Thursday that potentially live bullets related to the shootings were handed over to police but not disclosed to Baldwin’s lawyers.
‘buried’
More than two years after the “Rust” tragedy, the bullets were turned over to police earlier this year by a “good Samaritan.” The “good Samaritan” was a former police officer and friend of the family of gunman Gutierrez. He told police the bullets matched the bullets that killed Hutchins. Spiro accused police of “burying” evidence in the “Rust” case by not filing it, depriving the defense of a chance to see it. “It was a perfect plan,” he told the court. Crime scene technician Marisa Poppel, who was questioned by Spiro, said she had cataloged the bullets but was told not to file them in the “Rust” case. Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey immediately responded, telling the court she had never seen or heard of the bullets before this week. But when it was revealed that Morrissey was present at the discussion in which it was decided not to include the bullets in the “Rust” case file, Morrissey voluntarily called 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 actual bullets on the set of “Rust” and that they had been stored in a different state, Arizona, until the day of the tragic shooting. Marlo Sommer was not convinced and dismissed the case, leading to emotional scenes between Baldwin and his family.
‘Surprised’
Legal experts said Baldwin is highly unlikely to appear in criminal court again over the shooting, though he could still face civil lawsuits. “As far as the criminal process goes, it’s already over. They can’t reapply,” said Los Angeles attorney Trey Lowell. “It’s been dismissed with prejudice. To try to do it again would be double jeopardy. You can’t do that”. Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, agreed that “on the criminal side, I think it’s done.” “The prosecutors could try to file an extraordinary appeal somehow. But I don’t think any appeals court would agree with the prosecutor,” he said. The concealed evidence could benefit the film’s gunsmith Gutierrez, who has already filed an appeal, and David Halls, the film’s first assistant director who settled and admitted negligence. Los Angeles-based lawyer Christopher Melcher told AFP he was “stunned” by the case’s sudden collapse. “The case unfolded so fast that I’ve never seen it before… It was absolutely incredible to watch.”
