Alec Baldwin on Friday asked a New Mexico judge to uphold a decision to dismiss a manslaughter charge against the actor and end his trial in the shooting death of a cinematographer on the set of a Western movie.
State District Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed the case against Baldwin midway through the trial in July, citing police and prosecutors' withholding evidence from the defense in the 2021 shooting death of cinematographer Halina Hutchins on the set of the film “Lust.”
The charges against Baldwin were dismissed, meaning that once appeals against the ruling are exhausted, they cannot be brought again.
Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey recently asked the judge to reconsider, arguing that the facts were insufficient and that Baldwin's due process rights had not been violated.
Baldwin, a lead actor and co-producer on Lust, was holding a gun at cinematographer Halina Hutchins during a rehearsal when the gun went off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin 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 the ammunition was “buried,” and a motion to dismiss the case was granted.
In his decision to dismiss Baldwin's lawsuit, Judge Marlowe Sommer cited “gross discovery violations that constitute misconduct” by law enforcement and prosecutors, as well as false testimony by witnesses about physical evidence during the trial.
The defense said prosecutors sought to establish a link between live ammunition at the shooting scene and Gutierrez Reed to support their argument that Baldwin should have recognized mistakes due to the gunsmith's youth and inexperience.
“Baldwin had a right to the truth at trial, particularly after he requested to see 'all bullets, shell casings and disassembled bullets' in the State's possession,” the defense's new court documents state. “Yet the State knowingly withheld the evidence Baldwin requested.”
Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the weapons maker in the film “Lust,” was convicted of manslaughter and is serving an 18-month sentence.
She was accused of ignoring standard safety procedures and missing multiple opportunities to detect live ammunition, which is prohibited on set.
Deputy Warden and Safety Coordinator David Halls pleaded not guilty to negligent use of a deadly weapon and was sentenced to six months of unsupervised probation.
Although a no contest plea is not an admission of guilt, it is treated as an admission of guilt for sentencing purposes.
