The prosecutor in the “Rust” case has asked the judge to reconsider her decision to dismiss the manslaughter charge against actor Alec Baldwin, suggesting the government could try to reinstate the case on appeal.
Kari Morrissey, the special prosecutor assigned to handle the “Rust” cases, argued that the defense had successfully “confused” Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer about the relevance of the evidence withheld.
Morrissey urged the judge to reconsider the case and ask the defense further questions about how she learned of the evidence.
Baldwin was on trial in Santa Fe, NM, for the accidental shooting of cameraman Halyna Hutchins. Marlowe Sommer ended the proceedings with a blistering ruling on July 12, accusing the prosecutor of withholding bullets that had been turned over to the Sheriff’s Department months earlier.
In a dramatic moment in court, the judge donned latex gloves and cut open an evidence envelope, revealing that the bullets appeared to match live bullets found on the “Rust” set.
“If this conduct does not rise to the level of bad faith, it certainly comes so close to bad faith that it shows signs of scorching,” the judge said.
The judge dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled.
In the motion, Morrissey argued that Baldwin’s nine-member defense team took advantage of the two appointed prosecutors by filing the motion to dismiss in the middle of the trial.
“The fact that the motion was filed at trial was a tactical decision by the defense to take advantage of the state’s limited resources,” she wrote, arguing that the defense had “lay in wait to lawsuit to dismiss her, while she had a tactical decision’. advantage.”
She argued that the defense knew about the bullets long before they were dramatically revealed in court, likely from “Rust” gunsmith attorney Hannah Gutierrez Reed. Therefore, Morrissey argued that Baldwin’s defense was not actually surprised or bothered by the state’s inability to turn over the evidence.
Morrissey asked that the defense be forced to “disclose all information as to when and how” it learned of the rounds, “so that a full account can be made of the likely possibility of review by a higher court.”
Morrissey also reiterated her belief that the bullets were irrelevant to Baldwin’s defense and not exculpatory, and therefore there was no obligation to make them public.
