A New Mexico judge has upheld his decision to dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against Alec Baldwin for fatally shooting a cinematographer on the set of a western movie.
In a ruling Thursday, State District Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer upheld a July decision to dismiss the involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin. She said prosecutors did not raise any factual or legal arguments that would warrant overturning her decision.
“The Court finds that the State’s amended motion was not well received because it raises claims that were previously raised and claims that the State earlier decided not to raise,” the judge wrote, adding that the request was also untimely. He added that he couldn’t do it.
A spokeswoman for Baldwin’s attorney said Friday there was no immediate reaction to the decision.
Special prosecutor Carrie Morrissey told The Associated Press she disagreed with the court’s analysis and would appeal the ruling. Morrissey was appointed by the Santa Fe District Attorney to take over the case in March 2023 after the previous special prosecutor mistakenly resigned during the initial prosecution.
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The case was dismissed mid-trial on charges that police and prosecutors failed to disclose evidence to the defense in the 2021 death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on a movie set. rust.
Baldwin’s trial was overturned by revelations that a man who said he may be connected to Hutchins’ killing brought ammunition into the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office in March. While prosecutors determined the ammunition was irrelevant and immaterial, Baldwin’s attorney said investigators “buried” the evidence in a separate case file and successfully filed a motion to dismiss.
Baldwin, who stars and co-produces rustwas pointing a gun at Hutchins during a rehearsal on a film set outside Santa Fe in October 2021 when the revolver exploded, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin said he pulled back the hammer but did not pull the trigger and the revolver discharged.
In April, a judge sentenced Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the film director of Weapons, to up to 1 1/2 years in state prison after she was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in Hutchins’ death.
Marlowe Sommer last month denied Gutierrez-Reed’s request to dismiss the conviction or convene a new trial over claims prosecutors failed to share exculpatory evidence. She found that the armorer’s attorneys failed to establish that there was a reasonable possibility that the outcome of the trial would have been different if the evidence had been provided to Gutierrez-Reed, whose appeal is still pending in Superior Court.
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Associated Press writer Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque contributed to this report.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
