Editor-in-Chief, Legal, Labor & Politics
Why the judge dismissed Alec Baldwin's manslaughter case midway through the trial
The special prosecutor in the dismissed involuntary manslaughter case against Alec Baldwin is not taking up a case that was dismissed based on suppressed evidence lightly.
Kari Morrissey says in a July 31 filing made public Monday that Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer was determined to throw out Baldwin’s trial for the 2021 fatal shooting of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and that her reasoning was flawed. Morrissey reiterates many of the points made by both Baldwin and Hannah Gutierrez-Reed in her response to the incarcerated Rust gunmaker’s request for a new trial, and is herself adamant that Gutierrez-Reed does not deserve a second legal blow.
“Based on the court’s off-the-record statement, it was clear that the court intended to dismiss the case,” Morrissey says of that dramatic day in the Santa Fe County courthouse just over two weeks ago, when suppressed evidence was revealed and the prosecutor himself took the stand. “While the court’s final order has not yet been entered, the undersigned attorney asserts that the court misunderstood the testimony on July 12, 2024, and improperly dismissed the case against Mr. Baldwin,” Morrissey writes (read Rust’s July 31 filing here ).
