Judge declines to reconsider criminal charges against Alec Baldwin in ‘Rust’ shooting
A spokesperson for Baldwin’s lawyers said Friday that they had no immediate reaction to the decision.
New Mexico Judge Upholds Dismissal of Manslaughter Charge Against Alec Baldwin
A New Mexico judge has reaffirmed her decision to dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against Alec Baldwin in the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film Rust.
In a Thursday ruling, District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer stood by her July decision, stating that prosecutors failed to present new legal or factual arguments warranting a reversal.
"Because the state’s amended motion raises arguments previously made, and arguments that the state elected not to raise earlier, the court does not find the amended motion well taken," she wrote, adding that the request was also submitted too late.
Baldwin’s legal team had no immediate comment on the ruling, according to a spokesperson.
Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey expressed disagreement with the court's analysis and said she plans to appeal. Morrissey took over the case in March 2023 after the initial special prosecutor resigned following procedural missteps in filing the original charges.
The case against Baldwin was dismissed mid-trial following allegations that police and prosecutors withheld evidence from the defense. The shooting occurred in October 2021, when Baldwin, during a rehearsal on the Rust set outside Santa Fe, pointed a gun that discharged, killing Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza. Baldwin maintains that he pulled back the hammer but did not pull the trigger.
The trial was further complicated when a man brought ammunition to the Santa Fe County sheriff’s office in March, claiming it might be connected to the incident. Prosecutors deemed the ammo irrelevant, while Baldwin’s defense argued that investigators “buried” the evidence in an unrelated case file, ultimately winning dismissal of the charges.
In a separate development, Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was sentenced to 1.5 years in prison for her role in Hutchins' death. Her request to overturn the conviction or obtain a new trial was denied by Judge Marlowe Sommer, who ruled that her attorneys failed to prove that the outcome would have changed had the withheld evidence been available. Gutierrez-Reed is pursuing an appeal in a higher court.
