Three days after Baldwin’s trial began, New Mexico district court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer ruled after hearing evidence on the defense request in a case that has been plagued by prosecutorial missteps since charges were first filed 18 months ago.
Breaking down in tears at the defense table, the emmy-award winning actor turned to hug his crying 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.” Baldwin and his family left court without speaking to reporters.
“The state’s withholding of the evidence was wilful and deliberate,” Sommer said in delivering her decision. “Dismissal with prejudice is warranted to ensure the integrity of the judicial system and the efficient administration of justice.”
“The court concludes that this conduct is highly prejudicial to the defendant.”
The actor’s lawyer Alex Spiro told the court that the Santa Fe sheriff’s office took possession of live rounds in March as evidence in the case but failed to list them in the “Rust” investigation file or disclose their existence to defense lawyers.
“The prosecution felt it had to cheat to get the result it wanted,” said legal analyst Duncan Levin, a New York defense attorney. “This is the worst of our system on display.”
Erlinda Johnson, one of the state prosecutors, resigned on Friday, the fourth such prosecutor to quit the case which many legal experts considered legal overreach by the Santa Fe County District Attorney’s office.
“I did not intend to mislead the court,” lead state prosecutor Kari Morrissey told the court after taking the unusual step of defending herself from the witness stand. “My understanding of what was dropped off at the sheriff’s office is on this computer screen and it looks absolutely nothing like the live rounds from the set of Rust.”
Baldwin was holding a gun in the direction of Hutchins during a rehearsal in October 2021 when the weapon fired, killing Hutchins and wounding the film’s director.
The movie’s armorer Hannah Gutierrez, who loaded the fatal weapon, is already serving 18 months in prison for involuntary manslaughter.
Baldwin was facing the same charge. Prosecutors claim he ignored basic gun safety laws and acted recklessly on set.
Baldwin’s celebrity lawyer Alex Spiro argued the actor had no responsibility for checking the weapon’s deadly contents and did not know it contained live rounds.
But the defense’s case also rested heavily on discrediting the police investigation.
And Spiro on Thursday introduced evidence that live bullets potentially linked to the shooting had been handed to police, but not disclosed to Baldwin’s lawyers.
– ‘Buried’ –
The bullets were handed into police by a “Good Samaritan” earlier this year, more than two years after the “Rust” tragedy.
The “Good Samaritan” was a former police officer and a family friend of Gutierrez, the armorer. He told police the bullets matched the rounds that killed Hutchins.
Spiro accused police of having “buried” evidence by not filing it under the “Rust” case, depriving the defense of a chance to see it.
“Which was a perfect plan,” he told the court.
Crime scene technician Marissa Poppell, under questioning from Spiro, said she had catalogued the bullets, but had been told not to file them under the “Rust” case.
Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey scrambled to respond, telling the court she had never seen or heard of the bullets before this week.
But when it emerged that Morrissey had been present for discussions in which it was decided not to submit the bullets into the “Rust” case file, Morrissey voluntarily called herself as a witness in a last-ditch attempt to salvage the state’s case.
She claimed the allegedly “buried” bullets did not match the live rounds on the set of “Rust,” and had been stored in a different state, Arizona, up to the day of the tragic shooting.
Marlowe Sommer was not convinced and dismissed the case, prompting the emotional scenes among Baldwin and his family.
– ‘Dumbfounded’ –
Baldwin is highly unlikely to see the inside of a criminal court again over the shooting, legal experts said, though he could still face civil suits.
“As far as the criminal proceedings, it’s over. They can’t refile,” said Los Angeles lawyer Tre Lovell.
“It’s been dismissed with prejudice. To try to do it again would be double jeopardy. You can’t do that.”
University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias agreed that “on the criminal side, I think it’s done.”
“The prosecutors could try to somehow mount an extraordinary appeal. But I don’t think any appellate court is going to agree with the prosecutor,” he said.
The withheld evidence could benefit Gutierrez, the film’s armorer who has already launched an appeal, and David Halls, the movie’s first assistant director who took a plea deal and admitted negligence.
Christopher Melcher, a Los Angeles-based attorney, told AFP he was “dumbfounded” by the case’s sudden collapse.
“The case unfolded as quickly as I’ve ever seen a case… It was just absolutely amazing to watch.”
