Judge upholds dismissal of manslaughter charge against Alec Baldwin in on-set shooting

SANTA FE, N.M – A judge in New Mexico upheld her decision to dismiss the manslaughter charge brought against Alec Baldwin in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of a Western film.

In Thursday’s ruling, State District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer upheld her July decision to dismiss the manslaughter charge against Baldwin. She stated that prosecutors had not presented any factual or legal arguments that would justify changing her decision.

“Because the state’s amended motion raises arguments previously presented and arguments that the state chose not to raise earlier, the court does not find the amended motion to be well received,” the judge wrote, adding that the motion was also filed prematurely.

A spokesman for Baldwin’s lawyers said Friday that they had no immediate reaction to the decision.

Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey told The Associated Press that she disagrees with the court’s analysis and will appeal the verdict. Morrissey was appointed by the Santa Fe District Attorney to take over the case in March 2023, after the previous special prosecutor resigned over errors in the initial filing of charges.

The case was dropped midway through the trial amid allegations that police and prosecutors withheld evidence from the defense regarding the 2021 death. cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film “Rust”.

Baldwin’s trial was marred by the revelation that the ammunition was brought to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office in March by a man who said it might be related to Hutchins’ murder. Prosecutors said they found the ammunition unrelated and irrelevant, while Baldwin’s lawyers say investigators “hide” the evidence in separate case files and filed a successful motion to dismiss the case.

Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer of “Rust,” was pointing a gun at Hutchins during a rehearsal for the film set outside Santa Fe in October 2021 when a revolver discharged, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin said he pulled back the hammer but not the trigger, and the revolver fired.

In April, a judge sentenced film weapons manager Hannah Gutierrez-Reed to a maximum of 1.5 years in state prison on the manslaughter conviction in Hutchins’ death.

Marlowe Sommer last month denied Gutierrez-Reed’s request to overturn the conviction or convene a new trial based on allegations that prosecutors failed to present evidence that could be exculpatory. She found that the armorer’s lawyers failed to show that there was a reasonable possibility that the outcome of the trial would have been different if Gutierrez-Reed had had access to the evidence, an appeal still pending in a higher court.

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Associated Press reporter Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque contributed to this report.