October 25th 2024.
A New Mexico judge, Mary Marlowe Sommer, has upheld her previous decision to dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against actor Alec Baldwin in the tragic shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the movie Rust. In her ruling on Thursday, Judge Sommer stood by her July decision, stating that the prosecutors failed to provide any compelling arguments or evidence that would justify reversing her initial ruling.
The judge further explained that the state's amended motion was merely reiterating arguments that were previously presented and some that were intentionally not brought up earlier. She also deemed the request as untimely. In response, a spokesperson for Baldwin's lawyers stated that they had no immediate reaction to the judge's decision.
However, special prosecutor Kari Morrissey has expressed her disagreement with the court's analysis and intends to appeal the ruling. Morrissey was appointed to take over the case in 2023 after the previous special prosecutor resigned due to mistakes made in the initial charges.
The case was dismissed in the middle of the trial when it was revealed that vital evidence was withheld from the defense team by the police and prosecutors. The incident occurred in October 2021, when Baldwin, who was also the co-producer of Rust, accidentally discharged a firearm during a rehearsal, killing Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza. The incident deeply shocked the entertainment industry and sparked debates about safety protocols on movie sets.
The case took a dramatic turn when it was discovered that a man had brought ammunition into the Santa Fe County sheriff's office in March, claiming it could be related to Hutchins' death. Prosecutors dismissed the ammo as unrelated and insignificant, but Baldwin's lawyers accused investigators of deliberately hiding the evidence in a separate case file and successfully filed a motion to dismiss.
Baldwin has maintained that he did not pull the trigger, but instead, pulled back the hammer of the gun, causing it to fire. In April, the movie's weapons supervisor, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, was sentenced to 1.5 years in prison for involuntary manslaughter in Hutchins' death.
Last month, Judge Marlowe Sommer rejected Gutierrez-Reed's request to dismiss her conviction or hold a new trial, citing allegations that the prosecutors failed to share potentially exculpatory evidence. The judge concluded that Gutierrez-Reed's lawyers did not provide enough evidence to prove that the outcome of the trial would have been different had the evidence been available. Gutierrez-Reed still has an appeal pending with a higher court.
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