Entertainment
Judge Dismisses Charges Against Alec Baldwin in Rust Shooting Case Due to Withheld Evidence
A New Mexico judge has dismissed the involuntary manslaughter charges levelled against Alec Baldwin over the shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in 2021. The charges were dismissed with prejudice, meaning they cannot be filed again.
A New Mexico judge has dismissed involuntary manslaughter charges against Alec Baldwin, agreeing with his lawyers that prosecutors and police withheld evidence on the source of the live round that killed Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in 2021.
Three days after Baldwin’s trial began, New Mexico District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed the case following allegations by the actor’s lawyers of a “cover-up” by prosecutors, who have been plagued by missteps since first filing charges 18 months ago.
Breaking down in tears, the multiple Emmy Award-winning actor hugged his wife, Hilaria Baldwin, as other family members wept in the public gallery.
Baldwin faced an unprecedented criminal prosecution as an actor for an on-set shooting and his lawyers said prosecutors dragged him through a “cesspool of improprieties”.
On October 21, 2021, a reproduction single action army revolver, which the actor was using to set up a camera shot on the movie, fired a live round that killed Ms Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza.
Despite Baldwin‘s repeated assertions that the gun fired on its own, an FBI test of the revolver found it “functioned normally” and the actor was charged with involuntary manslaughter in January last year. The charge was dropped in April, but the actor was charged once again in January this year and indicted by a Santa Fe jury.
Prosecutors alleged Baldwin played a role in the death of Ms Hutchins because he handled the gun irresponsibly.
His lawyers said Baldwin was failed by Rust armourer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed 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 Ms Hutchins.
