Alec Baldwin ‘Rust’ Shooting Case: DISMISSED

Alright, here’s the update:

The plot twist in this tale is a judge in New Mexico has thrown out the case against Alec Baldwin, star of Rust and The Shadow (1994).

Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer says the state didn’t share some crucial evidence.

This evidence might have helped explain how live bullets ended up on a movie set.

A set where cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, was tragically shot and killed.

The case was dismissed with prejudice, which means Alec Baldwin won’t be prosecuted for this anymore.

If he had been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter, he could have faced up to 18 months in prison.

BREAKING: Actor Alec Baldwin's criminal case has been dismissed after new evidence emerged that wasn't disclosed to the defense.

Baldwin was seen sobbing when the announcement was made.

"One of the two special prosecutors in the Alec Baldwin trial, prosecutor Erlindo Ocampo… pic.twitter.com/3pyetXwDZQ

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) July 12, 2024

Is there a two-tiered justice system? Absolutely.

Is that what happened here? I'm not sure (yet).

Is Baldwin at the very least partially to blame for the de*th? Absolutely.

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) July 12, 2024

The New York Times reports:

A judge in New Mexico dismissed the case against Alec Baldwin on Friday after finding that the state had withheld evidence that could have shed light on how live rounds got onto a film set where the cinematographer was fatally shot.

The dismissal was with prejudice, meaning that the prosecution of Mr. Baldwin is over. If he had been convicted of involuntary manslaughter, Mr. Baldwin would have faced up to 18 months in prison.

“There is no way for the court to right this wrong,” Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer said in court as Mr. Baldwin wept.

It was a stunning end to the trial of Mr. Baldwin, who was rehearsing with a gun on the “Rust” film set in 2021 when it fired a live round, killing Halyna Hutchins, the movie’s cinematographer. Mr. Baldwin had been told the gun was “cold,” meaning it had no live ammunition.

The dismissal followed a dramatic scene when the lead prosecutor, Kari T. Morrissey, went from questioning witnesses to taking the stand herself. She gave an account of why a batch of ammunition that had been turned in to the state several months ago by a witness who claimed it was related to the “Rust” shooting had been put in an entirely different case file and was not handed over to the defense.

“It was my impression that they did not match the live rounds from the set of ‘Rust,’” Ms. Morrissey said on the stand, saying that she had only viewed a photo of the ammunition.

But when the ammunition was brought into the courtroom earlier Friday at the judge’s request it became clear that some of the rounds resembled those found on the “Rust” set.

The new evidence was brought into the courtroom in a manila envelope. Judge Marlowe Sommer put on blue latex gloves, cut it open with a pair of scissors and got down from the bench to examine the ammunition inside in the well of the courtroom as the prosecution and defense surrounded her. The examination determined that three of the rounds did, in fact, resemble the live rounds found on the set of “Rust” after the shooting.

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“I never saw them until today,” Ms. Morrissey testified when she took the stand.

The failure to disclose the ammunition posed a major legal problem because the state is required to turn over key evidence to the defense.

“They buried it,” Luke Nikas, a lawyer for Mr. Baldwin, said in court. “They put it under a different case with a different number.”

The judge’s order lifted a significant weight from Mr. Baldwin, a television and movie star whose life and career has been under a shadow of potential criminal liability for nearly three years, as the case against him has gone through a series of twists and turns.

Mr. Baldwin still faces civil lawsuits, including one from Ms. Hutchins’s husband, Matthew Hutchins. Although a settlement was announced in that case, it has not been fully resolved.

Is he innocent or guilty?

Was justice done in this case?

It would seem only the Shadow knows…