Actor Alec Baldwin to sue prosecutor and sheriff over ‘Rust’ trial

Following the annulment of his trial, Alec Baldwininformed the New Mexico State Attorney and Sheriff that I could sue them after confirming that They hid evidence from their defense team during the failed attempt to prosecute him for a fatal shooting on the set of the film “Rust” that killed the film’s director of photography, Halyna Hutchins.

Last Friday, New Mexico judge, Mary Marlowedismissed manslaughter charges against Baldwin on the third day of the trial, siding with his lawyers, who argued that the prosecutor Kari Morrissey and the sheriff’s office withheld evidence about the origin of the bullet that led to Hutchins’ death.

Thus, Baldwin’s attorneys sent letters to Morrissey and the Santa Fe County Sheriff, Adam Mendozadated Monday asking them to preserve documents for future litigationReuters reported. The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that it received the letter but had no further comment.

Also, the film’s chief of staff, Hannah Gutierrez — who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in March — filed a motion Tuesday to have the charges dismissed because prosecutors failed to disclose evidence about the bullets: examinations of Baldwin’s gun by firearms expert Lucien Haag and an interview with the film’s prop supplier, Seth Kenney.

Suppression of evidence

The argument of suppression of evidence arose on Thursday when Alex SpiroBaldwin’s lawyer questioned the forensic expert Marissa Poppell on the late receipt of a set of bullets that was not submitted for defense review.

The criminalist confirmed that she had received the ammunition from a former police officer who said that they were related to the case. Under instructions, These bullets were not analyzed or categorized as evidence. Poppell is contradicted on several occasions, what raised doubts on the veracity of his testimony and the handling of the same.

The detective in charge of the case, Alexandria Hancock, confirmed in court on Friday that prosecutor Kari Morrissey was present at the meeting in which the Investigators decided that the bullets were not relevant evidenceso they would be archived in parallel.

Morrissey immediately offered to testify under oath.in an apparent attempt to regain credibility, leading to a dramatic new twist in the case that saw Baldwin’s defense question the prosecutor in the case.

The prosecutor defended the decision to dismiss the new evidence by stating that the bullets were different from those found at the crime scene, and that they were in a different state during filming.

But Spiro poked holes in his court testimony about the evidence in question, then asked: “The truth is that you don’t like Mr. Baldwin, do you?” “That’s completely false,” Morrissey replied, going so far as to say that he liked his films and political ideas.

Annulment with prejudice should be the end point of the process for Baldwin, according to Professor Carl Tobias of the University of Richmond: “On the criminal side, I think this is over. “Prosecutors could try to come back with an extraordinary appeal. But I don’t think any appeals court would agree with the prosecution,” he explained.

How Halyna Hutchins died

Hutchins, a rising star according to industry insiders, was 42 when she died. The cinematographer was born in Ukraine and grew up on a Soviet military base in the Arctic Circle. She was married and had one son.

She was fatally wounded during a rehearsal for “Rust” in a small chapel that is part of Bonanza Creek Ranch, about 30 kilometers from Santa Fe, on a sunny afternoon in October 2021.

Baldwin was rehearsing a scene in which his character, an outlaw who, cornered in a church by two officers, draws his Colt, when tragedy knocked at the door.

The actor claims he was told the revolver was “cold,” which in movie slang means out of ammunition and safe to use. Real bullets are banned on film sets. The tragedy halted filming of “Rust”but the film was completed last year in Montana with Hutchins’ widower as producer.