The actor Alec Baldwin sobbed as First Judicial District Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed his involuntary manslaughter case on Friday, citing improper evidence handling by the prosecution.
Baldwin was accused of involuntary manslaughter after he fired a gun containing a live round during a rehearsal for the western movie Rust in 2021, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin pleaded not guilty, claiming he did not know the gun had a live round in it.
Baldwin’s trial began on Tuesday and was supposed to run till July 23. However, a manila folder of unexamined evidence that was introduced to the courtroom quickly changed everything, according to The New York Times.
Sommer, sporting a pair of blue latex gloves, opened the folder and examined the evidence; ammunition said to be linked to the case. Lawyers for Baldwin urged the case to be dismissed, citing the defense had already requested all ballistic evidence and that the state had failed to disclose the rounds, posing a problem for the trial.
Sommer sided with Baldwin’s attorneys, telling the court “the sanction of dismissal is the only warranted remedy,” according to NBC News.
“There is no way for the court to right this wrong,” she added.
After Sommer threw out the case, Baldwin put his face in his hands. Baldwin’s wife, Hilaria, and his sister, Beth Keuchler, also began weeping at the news of the verdict, images showed. Baldwin and Hilaria embraced for 12 seconds, according to the Associated Press, before the pair left the court in an SUV without responding to questions from the media.
Baldwin’s attorneys argued that the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office obtained live rounds of ammunition as evidence but did not enter them in the case file, or alert the defense of their existence.
The sheriffs reportedly received the ammunition from “a good Samaritan,” who turned out to be Troy Teske, a former Arizona police officer and friend of Hannah Gutierrez-Reed’s stepfather. Gutierrez-Reed was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in March and sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Teske gave the ammunition to the prosecutors following Gutierrez-Reed’s conviction.
Alec Baldwin hugs one of his attorneys.
Luis Sánchez Saturno/The New Mexican via Reuters
Gutierrez-Reed’s conviction could be overturned as a result of the case’s dismissal, according to NBC. She is appealing, while attorney Jason Bowles is expected to file a motion to dismiss, citing Baldwin, according to the Associated Press.
Marissa Poppell, a Santa Fe Sheriff’s office crime scene technician, claimed that they did not hide the ammunition from Baldwin’s attorneys, during her testimony earlier this week.
Poppell also refuted Baldwin lawyer Alex Spiro’s contention that the ammunition matched the round that killed Hutchins at the Bonanza Creek Ranch.
Actor Alec Baldwin’s sister, Beth Keuchler, cries.
Luis Sanchez Saturno/The New Mexican via Reuters
Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey also disputed the allegations that the ammunition was hidden. Morrissey claimed that the ammunition did not match the round that killed Hutchins, calling it a “wild goose chase that has no evidentiary value whatsoever,” according to NBC.
“There is absolutely nothing about the ammunition that Troy Teske had that has any evidentiary value in the Gutierrez case. It has no evidentiary value in the Baldwin case,” Morrissey said, ABC News reported.
District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said in a statement: “Our goal from the beginning was to seek justice for Halyna Hutchins, and we fought to get this case tried on its merits. We are disappointed that the case did not get to the jury.”
Another special prosecutor in the case, Erlinda Ocampo Johnson, resigned Friday after delivering opening statements for the state as the trial began two days ago. Though dramatic, it was overshadowed by news of the dismissal. Johnson later told Chris Cuomo on News Nation she left because “I learned about this evidence when the public learned about it.”
Spiro’s firm, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan told The Daily Beast they had no comment on the dismissal of the case.
Baldwin was facing up to 18 months in prison if found guilty. The dismissal was with prejudice, meaning that the case cannot be filed again.
#Alec #Baldwin #Tears #Judge #Dismisses #Rust #Involuntary #Manslaughter #Case,
#Alec #Baldwin #Tears #Judge #Dismisses #Rust #Involuntary #Manslaughter #Case