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| Alec Baldwin Photo: Gage Skidmore |
The involuntary manslaughter case against Alex Baldwin was thrown out of court yesterday as a judge ruled that the prosecution team had hidden potentially exculpatory evidence. The nature of the dismissal means that the case cannot be refiled. it is unlikely that the actor will face any additional charges related to the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust.
Baldwin wept with relief as Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer stated that the actions of the prosecutors meant it would be impossible to try the case fairly. By failing to preserve the bullet that struck Hutchins, and other bullets in the gun at the time, which were stored separately from other material evidence, they created a situation in which it was impossible to properly assess what happened. Baldwin has always maintained that he did not know that the gun contained live ammunition and that he did not pull the trigger. The prosecution had intended to contend that there was no other way it could have gone off, but the absence of the bullets would make that difficult to ascertain.
Kari Morrissey, prosecuting, denied that the bullets had been hidden and argued that they were not relevant to the case. The defence team argued that they should have been given the opportunity to decide that for themselves.
The ruling also has implications for Rust armourer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who is currently serving prison time for her part in the incident but is now likely to have her conviction overturned. She was convicted over the presence of live ammunition in the gun, but exactly how it got there is now unclear and will probably never be able to be established beyond a reasonable doubt.
