In a stunning turn of events, a New Mexico judge dismissed Alec Baldwin's "Rust" case Friday, on day three of his manslaughter trial.
The judge granted the defense's motion to dismiss the case, in which they claimed live ammunition that came into the hands of local law enforcement related to the investigation into the deadly on-set shooting was "concealed" from them.
Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer said the state's discovery violation regarding the late disclosure of a supplemental report on the ammunition evidence "injected needless delay into the proceedings," approached "bad faith" and was "highly prejudicial to the defendant. "There is no way for the court to right this wrong," Sommer said in granting the motion to dismiss with prejudice, meaning Baldwin cannot be tried again on the charge.
Baldwin reacted emotionally as the judge explained her ruling and could be seen hugging his wife, Hilaria Baldwin, in the courtroom. He had faced 18 months in prison if convicted.
The decision followed a day-long motion hearing Friday amid the actor's involuntary manslaughter trial over the death of "Rust" cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was fatally shot by Baldwin on the Santa Fe set of the Western in October 2021 when his revolver fired a live round. The court discussed the defense's motion in the absence of the jury. In an unexpected move, the special prosecutor on the case, Kari Morrissey, also called herself to testify on the matter.
During cross-examination of Morrissey, it was revealed that the other prosecutor in the case, Erlinda Ocampo Johnson, resigned from the case on Friday. Morrissey said it was because Johnson "didn't agree with the decision to have a public hearing. "In an expedited motion filed late Thursday, the defense argued the case should be dismissed over the handling of the ammunition evidence. During court on Friday, the state argued the evidence has no exculpatory value and is not relevant to Baldwin's case.
The matter was initially raised during court on Thursday. Defense attorney Alex Spiro asked state's witness Marissa Poppell, a crime scene technician with the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office who collected evidence in the case, about a "good Samaritan" who handed over ammunition to the sheriff's office in March -- during "Rust" armorer Hannah Gutierrez's trial -- that had reportedly ended up with Seth Kenney, who supplied the film with firearms, blanks and dummy rounds.
Gutierrez was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Hutchins' death, with prosecutors arguing the armorer was the source of the live bullet that killed her and saying she failed to follow safety protocols meant to protect the crew while handling the firearms.
Poppell testified that her lieutenant instructed her to create a report documenting that the individual came and gave them the ammunition and she filed it under a case number different from the "Rust" case."You buried it," Spiro said.
"No," Poppell responded. "There is a supplemental report on it, and that was placed into evidence."
Spiro went on to ask, "Isn't it the case that law enforcement likely has the matching rounds to the ammunition that killed Ms. Hutchins?"
"I do not know," Poppell said."And you do not know because you made a doc report about this and did not put it with the rest of the 'Rust' evidence, correct?" Spiro asked."Those rounds were not placed with the rest of the 'Rust' evidence, correct," Poppell said.
"Nor were they sent to the FBI for testing with the 'Rust' evidence, were they?" Spiro asked.
"No, they were not," Poppell said.
During redirect on Thursday, Morrissey had Poppell confirm that Baldwin has not been charged with involuntary manslaughter for bringing live rounds onto the movie set or for loading a live round into the gun.
"Has a person already been tried and convicted for those things?" Morrissey asked.
"Yes," Poppell said, referring to Gutierrez.
Comments
Post a Comment