In a dramatic turn of events, Alec Baldwin has seen his involuntary manslaughter trial for the fatal 2022 shooting of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins dismissed today by a New Mexico judge.
As well, the decision by Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer on Friday at the end of an evidentiary hearing over a defense motion to dismiss and bullets dropped off to Santa Fe police in recent weeks by ex-Arizona cop Troy Teske could see incarcerated Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed released from state prison in the Land of Enchantment.
Gutierrez-Reed’s lawyers plan to file a motion for her release asap, I hear.
Earlier today, Erlinda Johnson, one of the special prosecutors in the case resigned because she didn’t agree with there being a public hearing on the move by Baldwin’s Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan to see the matter tossed to the legal curb.
Breaking down in tears at the defense table, the multi-Emmy winning actor was in the courtroom when Judge Sommer unveiled her ruling on the defense motion to dismiss based on “concealed” evidence that Baldwin’s lawyer filed late Thursday.
Hutchins was fatally shot, and Rust director Joel Souza was injured on October 21, 2021 after the Colt .45 Baldwin was pointing at the cinematographer fired off a live round during a rehearsal at the Bonanza Creek Ranch where the indie Western was filming near Santa Fe.
Facing up to 18 months in a state prison if found guilty, Baldwin has always insisted that while he cocked the hammer, he did not pull the trigger and the gun somehow went off on its own.
After Rust ammunition supplier Seth Kenney and a series of Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office members gave testimony Friday, including bodycam footage of Teske bringing the ammunition to the cop shop, an exasperated special prosecutor Kari Morrissey decided to roll the dice and take the stand herself.
“I could see it was not at all similar to the live rounds on the set of Rust so I made the decision not to collect the rounds since they had never left Arizona,” Morrissey told the court on the record, as she and police officials had stated before of the ammunition brought in by Teske.
A close friend of Thell Reed, the iconic Hollywood gun coach and Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, Teske was never called as a witness in the armorer’s trial this spring and the defendant’s own lawyer Jason Bowles said he didn’t want them, according to Morrissey No long afterwards, Teske took the ammunition to the police – something the defense claim they were just informed of despite requiring all the evidence in the case.
Over the months since Baldwin was recharged earlier this year, the defense had quibbled over and over about evidence, discovery and tactics. In that context, defense lawyer Alex Spiro accused Morrissey of not liking Baldwin and calling him “an arrogant prick” and a “cocksucker.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Morrissey replied, insisting that she likes a number of Baldwin’s movies, SNL appearances and “his politics.” The special prosecutor also tried to state on the record that she offered Baldwin a plea deal, but was shut down by both Spiro and Judge Sommer. “I never said to witnesses that I would teach him a lesson,” Morrissey added to further claims by Spiro. “Absolutely not.”
There was talk about a new possible plea deal today, sources tell me, but that never came together.
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