A New Mexico choose has refused to revive Alec Baldwin’s manslaughter case within the “Rust” film taking pictures, denying a movement from the prosecutor who had requested the choose to rethink her choice to clear Baldwin of felony legal responsibility.
First Judicial Circuit Courtroom Decide Mary Marlowe Sommer late Thursday denied particular prosecutor Kari T. Morrissey’s movement to rethink the dismissal of the felony cost in opposition to Baldwin, star of the troubled western film.
“The Court concludes that the State does not raise any factual or legal arguments that would justify the grant of a motion to reconsider,” Marlowe Sommer wrote in her five-page order.
“The State disagrees with the Court’s analysis and intends to appeal the ruling,” Morrissey stated Friday in response.
Morrissey, in latest motions filed with the court docket, has defended the state’s dealing with of the case and disputed proof — rounds of ammunition turned over to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Division earlier this yr which will have matched the bullet that killed “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins three years in the past.
However the choose appeared troubled over the prosecutor’s angle towards Baldwin’s protection attorneys’ arguments in July that the actor had been denied his proper to evaluation the entire proof in opposition to him.
Marlowe Sommer stated that in a July 12 listening to over the disputed proof, Morrissey “elected not to make any argument following the introduction of evidence … and chose not to ask the court to recess the hearing to allow additional time for the state to conduct research and prepare argument.”
Marlowe Sommer additionally wrote that Morrissey’s movement was premature, noting the prosecutor missed an Aug. 30 deadline to file the movement. As well as, the choose stated Morrissey’s 52-page movement exceeded the variety of pages allowed by state guidelines.
Baldwin was dealing with an 18-month jail sentence if discovered responsible of involuntary manslaughter for Hutchins’ Oct. 21, 2021, demise in the course of the manufacturing of “Rust.” However simply because the trial was getting underway in a Santa Fe courtroom, Marlowe Sommer tossed out Baldwin’s felony case after the brand new proof got here to gentle.
Months earlier, a former police officer who lives in Arizona had delivered practically two dozen .45-caliber rounds to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Division, saying the ammunition may need been associated to the “Rust” taking pictures.
However sheriff’s deputies did not make these bullets out there to Baldwin’s protection attorneys for inspection. As a substitute, the rounds had been put in proof storage beneath a special case quantity than the one for the “Rust” taking pictures investigation.
Actor Alec Baldwin, left, with lawyer Luke Nikas, proper, throughout Baldwin’s manslaughter trial in July in Santa Fe, N.M.
(Ramsay de Give / Related Press)
Baldwin’s attorneys argued that the actor-producer was denied his proper to a good trial as a result of the state was obligated to show over all proof that could possibly be useful to his protection.
The choose agreed and dismissed the costs in opposition to Baldwin with prejudice, which means they can’t be refiled.
Morrissey tried to argue the choose’s actions had been too extreme as a result of the rounds had no bearing on Baldwin’s case.
The disputed rounds made it to sheriff’s deputies in a round-about means.
The retired police officer, Troy Teske, is a good friend of Thell Reed, a famous Hollywood armorer and father of “Rust” weapons handler Hannah Gutierrez. In 2021, Teske saved ammunition for Reed, who additionally lives in Arizona. Teske was scheduled to be a witness in Gutierrez’s trial in early March, so he introduced the bullets with him to Santa Fe in case they could possibly be helpful. However Gutierrez’s protection lawyer determined to not name Teske to testify.
Gutierrez was convicted in March of involuntary manslaughter within the Hutchins taking pictures.
After her conviction, and earlier than leaving Santa Fe, Teske turned over the ammunition to the Sheriff’s Division.
The choose was chagrined to be taught that three of the rounds appeared to match the deadly bullet within the “Rust” film set taking pictures, contributing to her choice to dismiss the costs in opposition to Baldwin.
Individually, Gutierrez failed in her bid this fall to have Marlowe Sommer throw out her conviction, alleging that the prosecutor additionally withheld proof in her proceedings. Gutierrez is serving her 18-month sentence at a New Mexico girls’s jail.
