Process - Lawsuit against Baldwin filed - Tears in court
The process drama surrounding the fatal shooting during the filming of "Rust" Western takes an unexpected turn - in the Santa Fe (New Mexico) court, emotional scenes ensue. Actor Alec Baldwin, charged with involuntary manslaughter, breaks down in tears as the judge, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer, in the ongoing trial, draws a line in the sand. At the request of Baldwin's defense team, Judge Sommer halted the proceedings against the Hollywood star on Friday (local time).
The defense had accused the prosecution of withholding evidence and serious misconduct. With a stern face, Judge Sommer agreed after a legal back-and-forth in the courtroom. The late discovery of this evidence would influence the "fundamental fairness" of the trial, Sommer said. There was no way for the court to rectify this omission, she added. The dismissal of the case was the only legal remedy.
Baldwin weeps
Baldwin listens to the judge's statements with tears in his eyes. He removes his glasses, visibly overwhelmed, and places a hand over his eyes, lowering his head. The actor hugs his attorney, then falls into the arms of his wife, Hilaria Baldwin.
In the event of a conviction, the eight-time father faced up to 18 months in prison. After this dramatic turn, he leaves the courthouse as a free man. On his way out, he is bombarded with shouts from reporters, but Baldwin remains silent.
In the process that began on Tuesday, the question was whether the 66-year-old actor had handled the fatal shot at the camera woman on the set of "Rust" in 2021 negligently and therefore should be imprisoned. Lead actor Baldwin had fired a revolver during rehearsals as instructed by the director. However, instead of harmless blank cartridges, live ammunition was discharged. A bullet hit cinematographer Halyna Hutchins (42) and killed her.
Accusations against the prosecution
Baldwin's defense now claims that the prosecution withheld crucial evidence. It involves a series of bullet casings that surfaced a few months ago and were presented to the court by the judge on Friday in a briefcase. She put on blue protective gloves and inspected the ammunition in the presence of the defense and the prosecution. From the defense's perspective, this ammunition should have been part of the ballistic investigations earlier – the prosecution had withheld it, argued Baldwin's attorneys.
Unanswered questions
The question of where the live ammunition that reached the Western film set in 2021 came from remains unanswered. In this early year, the young armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed stood before the court in Santa Fe. She was responsible for safety during the handling of weapons at the shoot. In addition to blank cartridges and so-called dummy cartridges, investigators found six real cartridges. One was loaded into the revolver cylinder. The prosecution accused Gutierrez-Reed of disregarding safety precautions and not checking the ammunition. The jury found the young woman guilty in March of involuntary manslaughter. Judge Sommer sentenced her to the maximum term - 18 months in prison.
A former police officer had handed over the sharp ammunition, now presented in court, to investigators in Santa Fe in March. The lead prosecutor, Kari T. Morrissey, however, decided that this had nothing to do with the case, as she saw a distinct difference between the bullets and the "Rust"-set in her view. The judge raised this issue as well. Moreover, Morrissey was sharply reprimanded for not listing this potential evidence in the "Rust"-trial documents and withholding it from the defendants. The evidence had been deliberately hidden from them, lamented Luke Nikas, Baldwin's attorney, in court.
Long Legal Battle
Now, Baldwin faces a long, judicial rollercoaster ride with a potential prison sentence looming. From the start, the actor had maintained his innocence. Just a few weeks after the fatal shooting, he declared in a TV interview, "I didn't pull the trigger." He would never point a gun at a person and pull the trigger. He had "no idea" how the live ammunition ended up in the gun.
The first indictment against Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed came in January 2023, but the charges against the actor were dropped three months later. It was stated then that further investigations and forensic analyses were necessary. The FBI investigators, for instance, probed whether a possible malfunction of the Colt could have caused the discharge. However, according to a weapons expert's report, the hammer must have been pulled. With new evidence in hand, the indictment against Baldwin was reinstated in January 2024 - he pleaded not guilty once more.
Even after the conclusion of Baldwin's trial, there are still open questions. Gutierrez-Reed had already filed an appeal against the guilty verdict against her weeks earlier. The armorer is also demanding a new trial. The public may soon learn more about the Baldwins as well. In June, the couple had announced a new family project. The reality show "The Baldwins" is set to premiere on the US network TLC next year.
- The defense team for Alec Baldwin argued that the United States of America's Public Prosecutor's Office in Santa Fe had withheld crucial evidence during the trial.
- The evidence in question was a series of bullet casings, which were presented in court by Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer.
- The prosecution had allegedly withheld these bullet casings from the defense and the ballistic investigations, according to Baldwin's attorneys.
- The omission of this evidence, as Sommer stated, would impact the "fundamental fairness" of the trial, leading to its dismissal as the only legal remedy.
- After the court's ruling, Hilaria Baldwin comforted her husband, who had tears in his eyes and was visibly overwhelmed.
- Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the former armorer for the "Rust" movie, faced similar accusations of negligence and withholding safety precautions.
- Media outlets in the United States, including Santa Fe and New Mexico, reported on the turn of events in the case of the fatal shooting on the set of the "Rust" movie, featuring A-list actors like Alec Baldwin.
