Even two months after the end of the “Rust” trial, there is still no peace. Alec Baldwin’s lawyers have now made serious allegations.
On July 12th of this year, the sensational trial against Alec Baldwin (66) in the case of the death of “Rust” camerawoman Halyna Hutchins (1979-2021) actually ended. At the beginning of this month, however, it was reported that the public prosecutor’s office was not satisfied with the actor’s acquittal and was seeking to have the case reopened. Baldwin’s lawyers have spoken out for the first time about this plan, which they believe is completely unfounded and will only burden their clients with unnecessary legal costs. They also make massive allegations against the public prosecutor behind the plan, Kari Morrissey.
Variety quotes Baldwin’s lawyers as saying in a letter filed with the relevant court last Friday (September 20): “The deliberate misconduct and fabrications that came to light at trial are consistent with Morrissey’s practice of withholding and lying about evidence, practically from the moment she took over this case.”
Their counterclaim reads: “The court should pay Baldwin’s attorneys’ fees in responding to the State’s flawed motion and as punishment against Morrissey for her continued abuse of the court process.”
This is what the public prosecutor demands
Prosecutor Kari Morrissey argued in her motion for a retrial that the defense had successfully “confused” the judge during the trial about the relevance of the withheld evidence. According to Variety, Morrissey asked the judge to reconsider the verdict and ask the defense more questions about how it learned about the evidence.
Baldwin was charged with manslaughter after camerawoman Halyna Hutchins was fatally shot by a bullet from a revolver he was holding on the set of the western “Rust” in October 2021. The judge ended the case on July 12, making serious allegations against the prosecution. She said the prosecutors withheld from Baldwin’s lawyers a batch of bullets that were handed over to investigators two and a half years after the incident in March of this year and that may be linked to the camerawoman’s death. The fatal bullet is said to have been among them.
The prosecutor, meanwhile, claims that the defense may have known about the bullets long before the dramatic revelation in court, so Baldwin’s legal team was not really surprised or hampered by the failure to turn over the evidence. Morrissey demanded that Baldwin’s defense disclose “all information about when and how” it learned about the bullets “so that a full record can be prepared for the likely possibility of a higher court review.”
The gunsmith in charge on the “Rust” film set, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed (born 1997), was sentenced to 18 months in prison in April for negligent homicide.
Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
