actor Alec Baldwin The defendant broke down in tears Friday as First Judicial District Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed his manslaughter case, saying prosecutors had improperly handled evidence.
Baldwin was charged with manslaughter after firing a loaded gun during a rehearsal for a Western. rust Cinematographer Halina Hutchins was killed and director Joel Souza was injured in the shooting in 2021. Baldwin has pleaded not guilty, saying he did not know the gun was loaded with live ammunition.
Baldwin’s trial began on Tuesday and was scheduled to continue until July 23. But a manila file of untested evidence presented in court changed everything, The New York Times.
Wearing blue rubber gloves, Sommer opened a folder of documents and examined the evidence, including the ammunition allegedly connected to the murder. Baldwin’s lawyers sought to dismiss the case, arguing that the defense had already requested all ballistic evidence and that the state’s failure to disclose the bullets was prejudicing the trial.
Sommer, siding with Baldwin’s lawyers, told the court that “the sanction of dismissal is the only just remedy.” NBC News.
“There is no way for the court to right this error,” she said. Added.
After Sommer dropped the lawsuit, Baldwin covered his face with his hands. Photos show Baldwin’s wife, Hilaria, and his sister, Beth Keuchler, also began crying after hearing the news of the verdict. Baldwin and Hilaria embraced for 12 seconds, the Post reported. Associated PressThe two then left the courtroom in an SUV without answering any questions from the media.
Baldwin’s defense team argued that the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office obtained live ammunition as evidence but failed to include it in the case file and did not inform the defense of its existence.
The deputies reportedly received ammunition from a “good Samaritan,” who turned out to be Troy Teske, a former Arizona state trooper and friend of Hannah Gutierrez Reed’s stepfather. Gutierrez Reed was convicted of manslaughter in March and sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Teske turned the ammunition over to prosecutors following Gutierrez-Reed’s conviction.
Alec Baldwin hugs one of his lawyers.
Luis Sanchez Saturno/The New Mexican via Reuters
Gutierrez Reed’s conviction could be overturned as a result of the case being dismissed. NBCShe is appealing the decision, and according to the Associated Press, her lawyer, Jason Bowles, plans to file a motion to dismiss the case, citing Baldwin.
During testimony earlier this week, Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office crime scene technician Marissa Poppel maintained that she did not hide any ammunition from Baldwin’s lawyers.
Poppel also denied claims by Baldwin attorney Alex Spiro that the bullet matched the one that killed Hutchins at Bonanza Creek Ranch.
Beth Keuchler, sister of actor Alec Baldwin, is in tears.
Luis Sanchez Saturno/The New Mexican via Reuters
Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey also disputed the allegation that ammunition was hidden, arguing that the shells did not match the bullet that killed Hutchins and calling it a “futility of investigation that has no evidentiary value,” NBC reported.
“The ammunition that Troy Teske had has absolutely no evidentiary value in the Gutierrez case. It has no evidentiary value in the Baldwin case,” Morrissey said. ABC News report.
District Attorney Mary Carmack Altwis statement“Our goal from the beginning has been to seek justice for Halina Hutchins and we have fought to ensure this case receives a fair trial. It is unfortunate that this case never made it to a jury.”
The other special prosecutor in the case, Erlinda Ocampo Johnson, resigned on Friday after delivering the state’s opening statement when the trial began two days ago. Dramatic as it was, it was overshadowed by the news of her firing. Johnson later told Chris Cuomo: News Nation She quit because “when the public found out about this evidence, I found out about it.”
Spiro’s firm, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, told The Daily Beast it could not comment on the dismissal of the lawsuit.
Baldwin faces up to 18 months in prison if convicted. The dismissal of the case is on appeal and the case cannot be refiled.
