Actor Alec Baldwin’s criminal case has been dismissed after new evidence emerged that wasn’t disclosed to the defence.
Baldwin was seen sobbing when the announcement was made.
“One of the two special prosecutors in the Alec Baldwin trial, prosecutor Erlindo Ocampo Johnson, resigned in the middle of a long, dramatic hearing in Santa Fe Friday over how police and prosecutors treated a handful of bullets,” the Hollywood Reporter reported.
“The late discovery of this evidence has impacted the fundamental fairness of the proceedings. There is no way for the court to write this wrong. The sanction of dismissal is the only warranted remedy,” said Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer.
Baldwin was facing up to 18 months in prison.
The Full Story
According to Trending Politics, the judge in Alec Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter trial dismissed the case, agreeing with the motion by defence attorneys, which argued that prosecutors concealed evidence regarding ammunition linked to the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the Western movie “Rust” in 2021.
In the motion to dismiss, Baldwin’s attorneys said that prosecutors and Santa Fe sheriffs had concealed evidence from Baldwin that emerged in March, after the conclusion of the trial of the indie Western’s armourer.
The filing says that on 6th March, retired Arizona police officer Troy Teske turned over a collection of live ammunition to the Santa Fe sheriff’s office, where the bullets were accepted by crime scene technician Marissa Poppell, but not inventoried with the Rust case.
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Teske told Poppell that among the rounds he was handing over that day were Starline brass casings with nickel primers, matching the live bullet that killed Hutchins, according to Baldwin’s filing. The sheriff’s department’s knowledge and possession of the rounds were not disclosed to the defence, nor were they presented at the defence’s evidence viewing on 16th April.
First Judicial District Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer stated, “The sanction of dismissal is the only warranted remedy” in the case. Baldwin, 66, immediately began sobbing as Sommer delivered her decision.
What Would’ve Happened
If convicted, Baldwin could have faced up to 18 months in prison. The shooting occurred while the actor was rehearsing a scene at the Bonanza Creek Ranch in Santa Fe County on 21st October 2021. The prop revolver he was holding discharged, killing Hutchins, 42, and wounding director Joel Souza.
Baldwin, who pleaded not guilty, claimed he was unaware that the revolver contained a live round and that it discharged accidentally following instructions to point it towards Hutchins.
The defence argued that the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office had taken live rounds of ammunition as evidence but failed to record them in the official case file or disclose their existence to Baldwin’s defence team.
Watch the video of the judgement below;