Image source, Reuters
Caption: Alec Baldwin will not be retried for the case.Article information
- Author, Samantha Granville y Christal Hayes
- Role, BBC News in Santa Fe and Los Angeles
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13 julio 2024
Alec Baldwin broke down in tears following a New Mexico judge dismissed the manslaughter case once morest him over a fatal shooting on the set of the film Rust.
The trial was annulled three days following it began in Santa Fe, in a court located a few miles from where Halyna Hutchins, director of photography, was shot with a revolver that Baldwin used in rehearsals.
This is the second time the case once morest the actor has been dismissed since the shooting, which took place in October 2021. He will not be tried once more.
His lawyers argued that police and prosecutors withheld evidence – a batch of bullets – that might have been linked to the shooting.
A key aspect of the case has been how live ammunition ended up on the set, and Baldwin’s lawyers have questioned the investigation and mistakes made by the authorities who prosecuted the scene.
His motion to dismiss the case set off a series of surprising events, including the resignation of one of the two special prosecutors leading the case and Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer’s decision to allow the jury to hear from several witnesses.
The bullets, Baldwin’s attorney said, might be linked to Hutchins’ death, but were filed in a different case under a different number.
Prosecutors argued that the ammunition was unrelated to the case and did not match bullets found on the set of Rust.
However, the judge ruled that they should have been shared with Baldwin’s defense team nonetheless.
“The state’s deliberate withholding of this information was intentional and deliberate,” Sommer said from the dock.
“There is no way for the court to correct this error,” he concluded.
Prosecutors will not be able to refile charges once morest Baldwin, as the judge did not declare the case null and void, but rather dismissed it outright.
“It was the nuclear option. The case is over,” Los Angeles-based lawyer Joshua Ritter told the BBC.
Image source, Reuters
Caption: The actor hugged his wife, Hilaria, upon learning of the case’s annulment.
Baldwin, best known for his role on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock and for portraying Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live, cried as the judge read a lengthy statement detailing her reasons for dismissing the case.
His wife, Hilaria, covered her mouth, while other members of his family cried and smiled.
The actor hugged his lawyers and then his wife, who was sitting behind him. The two walked hand in hand through a press tunnel to a black vehicle, without answering any questions or making any comments.
The evidence came to light on Thursday when a crime scene technician told the court that a man named Troy Teske, a retired police officer, had handed over live ammunition that might be linked to the case.
Teske is friends with the stepfather of Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the film’s gunsmith, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter earlier this year.
I worked with Seth Kenney, who helped with props and ammunition on the set.
Caption: Halyna Hutchins was a noted cinematographer.
After the judge sent the jury home Friday, the court heard from a number of witnesses regarding the shooting, including law enforcement officials who prosecuted the case and Kenney.
Toward the end of the hearing, one of the prosecutors in charge of the case, Kari Morrissey, took the stand to testify regarding the bullets and why they had not been shared with the defense. It is very rare for a prosecutor to testify in a case regarding his or her own role in the investigation.
Morrissey said the ammunition had “no probative value” in his view. While on the stand, he said his co-prosecutor, Erlinda Ocampo Johnson, resigned Friday as the judge was considering dismissing the case.
According to Ocampo Johnson, he did not agree with the decision to hold a public hearing on the evidence presented.
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