Alec Baldwin’s manslaughter trial dismissed due to procedural flaw

The judge dismissed the trial for withholding evidence, denouncing behavior “bordering on bad faith” on the part of the prosecution, which did not provide the defense with bullets related to the case.

It’s a turnaround for Alec Baldwin. His trial for involuntary manslaughter on the set of the film Rust was canceled Friday, July 12, due to a procedural error, the prosecution having failed to turn over bullets related to the case to the defense. Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer declared the trial to be a mistrial for withholding evidence, denouncing conduct “close to bad faith” from the prosecution.

Alec Baldwin immediately burst into tears in the arms of his wife, Hilaria. The 66-year-old actor was facing up to eighteen months in prison for this tragedy which occurred in October 2021 in New Mexico.

On the set of Rustthe star had brandished a gun that was supposed to contain only blanks but which had fired a real projectile. The shot had killed the director of photography Halyna Hutchins, and injured the director Joel Souza. Marked by many weaknesses and twists, the investigation has never established how real bullets, absolutely forbidden on a film set, ended up on the set of Rust.

On Friday, defense lawyers directly accused the police of having “buried” evidence to explain the tragedy. Because earlier this year, two and a half years after the events, the sheriff of Santa Fe received a batch of bullets from a former police officer, claiming that these ammunition matched the bullet that killed Halyna Hutchins. Enough to potentially establish its origin and clarify the responsibilities of each party in the tragedy. However, these bullets were never transmitted to the defense, who were unable to have them examined.

According to the prosecution, these bullets do not match the one that took the life of Halyna Hutchins. “This is a false lead”assured prosecutor Kari Morrissey. But the magistrate was very uncomfortable explaining why this batch of bullets did not play a greater role in the investigation. “I never saw them until this morning”she explained to the nervous judge.

However, the testimony of an investigator on Friday showed that she was present during the discussions during which it was decided not to include these bullets in the case file. The prosecutor then agreed to be questioned as a witness in court, but did not provide sufficient explanations for her refusal to inform the defense.