Alec Baldwin wept in court as a Santa Fe judge dismissed his involuntary manslaughter case with prejudice on Friday after a day-long, dramatic and often bizarre hearing over how police and prosecutors treated a handful of bullets.
“The late discovery of this evidence has impacted the fundamental fairness of the proceedings,” Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer stated in dismissing the case. “There is no way for the court to right this wrong. The sanction of dismissal is the only warranted remedy.”
Early on in the hearing Judge Sommer slid on a pair of blue surgical gloves and sliced into an evidence bag containing the ammunition, which Baldwin’s attorneys have said the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office and prosecutors withheld from them. By the end of the day, one of the two special prosecutors in the trial, Erlindo Ocampo Johnson, had resigned and special prosecutor Kari Morrissey had called herself to the witness stand.
Opening statements started Wednesday in what was expected to be a two-week trial on whether Baldwin should be held criminally liable for involuntary manslaughter in the death of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
Baldwin and his attorneys left the courthouse after the trial without saying a word to press gathered outside. Morrissey stopped and spoke to cameras. “I respect the court’s decision,” the prosecutor said, “But there is absolutely no evidence that any of that ammunition was related to the incident with Ms. Hutchins.”
In the surprise motion to have the case dismissed that Baldwin filed Friday morning, his attorneys said prosecutors and Santa Fe sheriffs had concealed evidence from Baldwin that emerged in March, after the conclusion of the trial of the indie Western’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed. On March 6, the filing says, retired Arizona police officer Troy Teske turned over a collection of live ammunition to the Santa Fe sheriff’s office, where the bullets were accepted by crime scene technician Marissa Poppell, but not inventoried with the Rust case. Teske told Poppell that among the rounds he was handing over that day were Starline brass casings with nickel primers, matching the live bullet that killed Hutchins, according to Baldwin’s filing. The sheriff department’s knowledge and possession of the rounds was not disclosed to the defense, nor were they presented at the defense’s evidence viewing April 16, the filing said.
By 10:15 am, the judge sent home the jury for the weekend. “I’m sorry,” Sommer told them. “Trials are fluid.”
Baldwin’s attorney Alex Spiro first brought up the evidence in front of the jury on Thursday, referring to Teske at that time merely as a “good Samaritan.” Prosecutor Kari Morrissey later revealed that “good samaritan” to be Teske, a retired Arizona police officer who is a friend of Gutierrez’s father, veteran Hollywood armorer Thell Reed. Reached by phone on Friday, Teske told THR, “This trial is going down a path that I can’t make any comments on it. I don’t want to interfere.”
(Excerpt) Read more in: The Hollywood Reporter