Judge Questions Validity of Alec Baldwin’s ‘Rust’ Manslaughter Indictment
On Friday, a New Mexico judge expressed skepticism toward the prosecutor in the Alec Baldwin manslaughter case, hinting at the possibility of dismissing the indictment.
Baldwin is set to go to trial in Santa Fe in July for allegedly negligently pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and pulling the trigger. In New Mexico, involuntary manslaughter can result in a maximum sentence of 18 months in prison.
Baldwin’s defense team has requested that Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismiss the case, arguing that the prosecutors did not make defense witnesses available to the grand jury.
During a hearing on Friday, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer questioned prosecutor Kari Morrissey on why she had not made a greater effort to contact those witnesses before the grand jury proceeding.
The judge also questioned Morrissey about interrupting a witness during grand jury testimony regarding safety standards on movie sets.
Judge Marlowe Sommer stated she would rule on the defense motion next week. If the indictment is dismissed, the prosecution could choose to refile the case.
Alex Spiro, one of Baldwin’s defense attorneys, argued that the prosecution violated a court order and intentionally kept the jury from considering exculpatory evidence.
“The fix was in,” Spiro claimed. “They never intended for the jury to ask for witnesses.”
The hearing lasted over two hours, during which the judge posed numerous pointed questions to Morrissey and indicated that the prosecutor was mistaken about the law in at least one instance.
As the hearing neared its conclusion, Morrissey responded heatedly to the defense’s arguments, accusing Spiro of misrepresenting her conduct to the court.
“Everything he’s saying to you right now is a complete misrepresentation of what has happened,” she said. “And that’s what these people do… I’m not going to sit here and be called a liar.”
The “Rust” case has been marked by several prosecutorial missteps, although the prosecution secured a conviction against the film’s armorer in March.
Prosecutors initially charged Baldwin in January 2023 but dropped the case a few months later after the defense raised concerns about the functionality of Baldwin’s gun. Additionally, a five-year sentence enhancement was dropped when it was discovered that it was not in effect at the time of the shooting.
Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the armorer, is serving an 18-month sentence at the Western New Mexico Correctional Facility in Grants, N.M., after being convicted of involuntary manslaughter in March. She mistakenly loaded a live bullet into Baldwin’s gun.
In their motion to dismiss, Baldwin’s lawyers argued that prosecutors subjected him to numerous abuses, including failing to inform the grand jury of exculpatory information and leaking details about the grand jury process to the media.
Morrissey countered that Baldwin had repeatedly lied and changed his account of the shooting, and that his lawyers had misled the prosecution.
According to court filings, Baldwin was offered a plea deal last fall that would have allowed him to accept a misdemeanor charge with no jail time. Baldwin appeared to seriously consider the deal.
However, the offer was rescinded when Morrissey learned that Baldwin was participating in a documentary about the case. Morrissey claimed that Baldwin had commissioned the documentary and was pressuring witnesses to cooperate with the filmmakers.
Director Rory Kennedy submitted a sworn statement asserting that Baldwin did not commission the documentary and had no ownership or editorial control over it.
Baldwin’s defense team also filed two additional motions to dismiss the case, which were not discussed on Friday. In one motion, they contend that the gun was destroyed during FBI testing, preventing the defense from proving their theory that the gun was malfunctioning at the time of the shooting. In the second motion, they argue that even if the allegations are true, they do not meet the legal standard for involuntary manslaughter.
