Prosecutors in the case against Alec Baldwin have asked a New Mexico judge to reconsider a decision to dismiss a manslaughter charge against the actor for shooting and killing a cinematographer on the set of the Western film “Lust.”
The case against Baldwin was dramatically dismissed in July midway through the trial when a judge determined that prosecutors and law enforcement had deliberately concealed evidence that could have been favorable to the actor.
Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed the charges against Baldwin, meaning they cannot be reinstated once appeals against the ruling have been exhausted. She ruled that the state had concealed information in an “intentional and premeditated” manner. During a dramatic hearing in July, special prosecutor Kali Morrissey, who led the state's case against Baldwin, was accused of being directly involved in the decision to suppress evidence.
In court documents made public Wednesday, Morrissey said there were “insufficient facts” to support the judge's ruling. Morrissey argued that the evidence in question was not relevant to Baldwin's defense.
“None of the prosecutors knowingly concealed evidence from the defendants; the prosecutors simply did not believe the bullets were relevant to the crime,” Morrissey wrote in the lawsuit.
Baldwin, a lead actor and co-producer on the film “Lust,” pointed a gun at cinematographer Halina Hutchins during a rehearsal in 2021 and the gun fired, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin has said he pulled the hammer but not the trigger, causing the revolver to fire.
The evidence that closed the case was ammunition that was brought to the sheriff's office in March by a man who said he may have been connected to Hutchins' murder. Prosecutors said they determined the ammunition was unrelated to the case and immaterial, while Baldwin's defense team argued that the ammunition had been “hidden” and filed a motion to dismiss the case.
Legal experts said the state's actions in this case amounted to a “constitutional violation.”
The film's weapons officer, Hannah Gutierrez Reed, was convicted of manslaughter and is serving an 18-month sentence. She is accused of ignoring standard safety procedures and missing multiple opportunities to detect live ammunition, which is prohibited on set. The film's assistant director and safety coordinator, David Halls, has pleaded not guilty to negligent use of a deadly weapon.
It has never been officially determined who brought the live ammunition that killed Hutchins to the shooting scene, but prosecutors allege Gutierrez Reed was the culprit.
