Fatal shooting case on Alec Baldwin movie set

SANTA FE, NM – New Mexico prosecutors will not file an appeal of a court’s decision to dismiss a manslaughter charge against Alec Baldwin in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of a Western movie, the Monday the Santa Fe District Attorney’s Office.

Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey withdrew her appeal of a July trial decision to dismiss the charge against Baldwin in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal on the set of the movie “Rust” outside Santa Fe in October 2021.

“Today’s decision to dismiss the appeal is the final vindication of what Alec Baldwin and his attorneys have said all along: It was an unspeakable tragedy, but Alec Baldwin committed no crime,” said defense attorneys Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro. . “The rule of law remains intact in New Mexico.”

Representatives for the state attorney general could not immediately be reached.

The decision to dismiss the appeal cements Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer’s decision, midway through the trial, to dismiss the case over allegations that police and prosecutors withheld evidence from the defense.

Baldwin’s trial was upended by revelations that a man brought ammunition to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office in March and said it could be linked to Hutchins’ murder. Prosecutors said they considered the ammunition unrelated and unimportant, while Baldwin’s attorneys say investigators “buried” the evidence in a separate file and filed a successful motion to dismiss the case.

The district attorney’s office said that under state law, New Mexico’s attorney general would have pursued the appeal but “did not intend to exhaustively pursue the appeal on behalf of the prosecution.”

“As a result, the State’s efforts to continue to litigate the case fairly and comprehensively have encountered multiple barriers that have compromised its ability to prosecute to the full extent of the law,” local prosecutors said.

Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer of “Rust,” was pointing a gun at Hutchins during an on-set rehearsal when the revolver went off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin has said that he pulled the hammer, but not the trigger, and the revolver fired.

In April, a judge sentenced the film’s weapons supervisor Hannah Gutierrez-Reed to a maximum of a year and a half in a state penitentiary for a manslaughter conviction in Hutchins’ death.

Prosecutors blamed Gutierrez-Reed for unintentionally bringing live ammunition to the set of “Rust,” where it was expressly prohibited, and for failing to follow basic gun safety protocols.

Deputy Chief and Security Coordinator David Halls pleaded no contest to negligent use of a deadly weapon and was sentenced to six months of unsupervised probation. A no contest plea is not an admission of guilt, but is treated as such for sentencing purposes.

Several civil lawsuits have been filed against Baldwin and the producers of “Rust,” including a complaint from Hutchins’ parents and sister.

Prosecutors said Hutchins’ death has prompted industry-wide scrutiny of safety protocols, especially the use of live firearms and ammunition on set.