Sante Fe: A New Mexico judge dismissed involuntary manslaughter charges against Alec Baldwin on Friday after his lawyers alleged police hid evidence of the source of the live round that killed Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in 2021.

Three days after Baldwin’s trial began in New Mexico, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer ruled after hearing evidence on the defence request made earlier.

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Baldwin cried and embraced his attorneys after the decision was announced.

The actor’s lawyers said the Santa Fe sheriff’s office took possession of live rounds as evidence in the case but failed to list them in the Rust investigation file or disclose their existence to defence lawyers.

They also alleged the rounds were evidence that the bullet that killed Hutchins came from Seth Kenney, the movie’s prop supplier. Kenney has denied supplying live ammunition to the production and has not been charged in the case. He had been expected to testify against Baldwin.

The Colt .45 rounds at the centre of the dismissal were handed into the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office on March 6 by Troy Teske, a friend of Thell Reed, the stepfather of Rust armourer Hannah Gutierrez, on the same day Gutierrez was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for Hutchins’ death.

A Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office technician, Marissa Poppel, testified before the judge that the rounds were not hidden from Baldwin and she was told to file them and details on how they were obtained under a different case number to the Rust case. She disputed Spiro’s assertion the Colt .45 ammunition matched the round that killed Hutchins.

Prosecutor Kari Morrissey had questioned the allegation the evidence was concealed from Baldwin.

“If you buried it how did the defence attorneys know to cross examine you about it yesterday?” asked Morrissey.
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Prosecutors accused Gutierrez of bringing the live rounds onto the set, an allegation she denied.

Prosecutors allege Baldwin played a role in the death of Hutchins because he handled the gun irresponsibly. His lawyers say Baldwin was failed by Gutierrez and others responsible for safety on the set, and that law enforcement agents were more interested in prosecuting their client than finding the source of a live round that killed Hutchins

Reuters, AP

https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/alec-baldwin-trial-on-hold-as-judge-considers-defence-request-to-dismiss-case-20240713-p5jtck.html

Wow...

How stupid of the prosecution!

Quote by Ronbo
It’s all irrelevant now as the judge just dismissed the case with prejudice. Evidently the prosecution withheld evidence.

Someone got greased

As it should have been. There's no reason he should have been charged. It was up to the Armorer to keep a safe set.

Live rounds were found in AB's bandolier and a gun belt of another actor. Complete disregard for her duties. She got 18 months, should have been 5 years.

Now on center ice .... doing a figure-eight ...Alec Baldwin ;)

She got off light imo .... total fail.

Never quite understood the accusations aimed at AB.
Example- if a prop was a zip line, and the actor is supposed to push a stunt person off a building. Is the actor supposed to inspect the zip line?
Is the actors supposed to inspect the airbag at the base of a building to make sure the vents are working?
How many movies do we see a gun going off while pointed at the camera?

He pointed a gun at a woman and pulled the trigger.

He was the producer. If it was someone else’s responsibility to inspect the gun it was his responsibility to make sure that person was in the room.

If you actually watched that unfold (it's all over youtube) it was pretty clear from the minute that cross began of the crime scene tech that this was going to happen. Yes, the guy who handed the ammo over after HGR's trial had a motive to discredit the prosecution ( an HGR relative), but the cops just buried the evidence by not including it in the Rust case file and giving the report a new and undiscoverable case number. I guess he went to Baldwin's defense team, and they made it look like a clear discovery violation. The cops screwed up, plain and simple.
I don't have a dog in the fight as to whether Baldwin is guilty as charged or not ( although I believe that set protocol says no, but I'd rather a jury decide that ) but f'up cops deserve what they get. Total arrogance to bury the rounds because they decided they were irrelevant. In fact, they likely were, and it was a setup, but if the trained pros were dumb enough to take the bait, good on 'em.

This seems like such a stupid oversight.

- Did the prosecutor intentionally sabotage the case?

I doubt the prosecutor knew until the last minute.
HGR's stepfather has a friend. AFTER her trial he goes to police with Star Brass 45's with nickle primers (same as killer round) and says they're from Rust set. He claims he's an ex cop and doesn't trust New Mexico police. says he got them from Kenny, the propmaster, not HGR. This, to the police, likely looks like (and maybe is) a set up to complicate HGR's conviction. So rather than logging the rounds as part of the Rust case file and stating their opinion, they take what looks to them like a "more secure" way out and write up a report on this under its own file number. No one knows this is out there but the cops, unless they were dumb enough to tell the prosecutor, in which case she should be held in contempt. She claims that she was shown photos of rounds that didn't look alike and that she thought the report was in the Rust file. Turns out that there were lookalike rounds that she wasn't shown...
Baldwin's attorneys are entitled to discovery of any and all evidence under US law, so they request it and meet with someone from the police, who gives them access to the Rust file. But these alleged rounds are not part of the Rust file, so defense never sees it.
But, Baldwin's attorneys are either in contact with HGR's or the friend of the stepfather reaches out, so by trial they know that a) these rounds are in police possession and b) that they are likely entitled to a mistrial b/c they weren't turned over. They don't say anything in advance as that would have just delayed the trial. So, they bring it up on cross of a crime scene tech that rec'd the rounds and was ordered to bury them. It didn't help that she's not bright and made contemptuous faces throughout her cross exam. Judge rightly grants a mistrial for misconduct.
So I suspect the prosecutor found out either at trial or just before, and was surprised. If she found out just before a better choice would have been to disclose it, turn them over and ask for a delay. She might have that result rather than a mistrial, or maybe not. She may not even have know as the cops can hide stuff from prosecutors. If she did know, she made a bad tactical decision, but no, I don't think it was sabotage.

So let me get this straight. A person lost their life at the complete negligence of others. A trigger WAS pulled, and a gun was fired, which resulted in the death of someone, and no one is going to be held accountable for this due to, basically, a technicality? Sounds fishy to me.
Where is the justice?

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Hannah Gutierrez-Reed is serving time (not enough in my opinion) for her conviction. It appears she will try to take advantage of this new evidence and appeal immediately.

David Halls plead out and got a deal (too good in my opinion).

I wish Baldwin had completed the trial and gotten exonerated legitimately. But maybe his dismissal is called for based on the likely misconduct. The problem is he will be thought of as guilty by many because he didn't complete his trial.

This whole thing has me confused. Why would a friend of HGR's stepfather Thell Reed bring evidence after HGR's conviction?

How the live rounds got on the set involves some that haven't been brought to justice and probably never will based on how badly this case appears to be messed up. But that doesn't excuse the failure of those who should have caught the mistake.

I forsee a wrongful death civil case on the horizon

As there should be. Baldwin lied when he said he never pulled the trigger, yet, he did pull the trigger. He was the producer, he held the gun, he pulled the trigger, he killed the camera woman and he did so, as producer, with no armorer on site.

Despite all that, a bit of calculated slight-of-hand results in the case getting tossed with prejudice. I’d say Baldwin is minimally guilty of involuntary manslaughter. Or more realistically, 2nd degree murder. It’s not a stretch to suggest that this is fishy. Baldwin has the connections and the money to make things happen in his favor. Of course there will be no financial forensics among the players, but there should be.

I’d say, this result stinks. We have our new OJ Simpson.

The theory being tossed around is that Kenny wanted to show how easy it was for live rounds to show up on the set so he arranged for them to be there, or something like that. It would in theory be "newly discovered" evidence that HGR might use on appeal. But it didn't work at first. Cops buried it. Now its out there...

Several, against various people were filed a while ago. Also several people on the rust payroll have filed saying the incident traumatized them.
This prosecutor was after her 15 minutes of fame and it backfired.

I agree with everything except the last two words.

It did not backfire. She got her fame and we have no way of knowing her motivation.

Interview with the prosecutor that gave the opening statement, then quit. She used to be a defense attorney and IMO has good ethics. She felt the prosecution should have dismissed the case.

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She has a lot of integrity.