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Alec Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter case for the fatal 2021 shooting of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was tossed out in July, but the Emmy winner is still trying to make sure the whole thing is truly over.
In a filing today in New Mexico state court, lawyers for The Marrying Man star requested that Special Prosecutor Kari Morrissey’s longshot move to have the case reconsidered be firmly and finally shut down.
“No basis exists to reconsider the Court’s decision,” proclaims Baldwin’s Alex Spiro and Luke Nikas-led attorneys in their opposition to Morrissey’s request, which Judge Mary Marlowe Sonner has already rejected for being way too long.
“But here comes Kari Morrissey,” they add with no small drips of condescension (read Alec Baldwin’s response to efforts to reopen his case here)
“After she repeatedly violated the State’s disclosure obligations, buried evidence, lied about it at trial, and then lied about her reasons for lying about it, Morrissey has the audacity to ask the Court to order Baldwin to ‘to provide a description and all documents related to when and how they learned of’ evidence that the State suppressed,” the 16-page document adds.
With barely a straight face in what has been a bitter battle on both sides, the lawyers continue: “It is difficult to imagine a more backwards or conceited attempt to blame the victim of the State’s own ‘willful and deliberate misconduct.’ Not only has the State failed to present any new information to warrant reconsideration, but the new information that has emerged since trial only underscores the strength and necessity of the Court’s judgment.
While there isn’t a hearing, virtual or in-person, yet for this Hail Mary matter on Morrissey’s part, you can be sure it isn’t a big priority for Judge Sommer. That assumption is pretty evident by how the judge mocked Morrissey’s initial 52-page retrial request and seems to have simply ignored subsequent filings by the prosecutor.
You might put a bow on it too by Judge Sommer’s September 6 quip about Morrissey’s 42-page over the limit argument for that desired retrial or appeal: “A winning argument can fit within the limitations of the rule.” Or you might just go with her terming of the prosecution’s sleight of hand conduct over the evidence of more bullets as “egregious” before she ended the whole thing “with prejudice” (which means it can’t be filed again) on the fourth day of Baldwin’s trial in the Santa Fe County courthouse.
Hutchins was killed, 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 near Santa Fe where the indie Western was filming. Facing up to 18 months in state prison if found guilty, Baldwin has always insisted on his innocence and that while he cocked the hammer of the gun, he did not pull the trigger and the weapon went off on its own. The FBI, an independent analysis and the man who actually made the gun all disagreed with Baldwin’s assertion.
Soon set to star in his own TLC reality show with wife Hilaria and their children, Baldwin saw prosecutors fall into a well timed defense snare when it emerged there were bullets handed over to Santa Fe Sheriff’s office that the actor’s lawyers hadn’t seen. The decision by Judge Sommer on July 12, at the end of an rocky evidentiary hearing over a defense motion to dismiss the case over the bullets dropped off to police in recent weeks by ex-Arizona cop Troy Teske, could also mean the release of incarcerated Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed from New Mexico state prison.
Currently appealing and trying to get her own case dismissed, Gutierrez-Reed was sentenced to 18 months in a state prison on April 15 after being found guilty of involuntary manslaughter. While a range of theories from sabotage to stray ammunition from her father and seasoned Hollywood gun coach Thell Reed have been floated, no full explanation has been established for how several live rounds got on the already troubled Rust set and how one of those rounds got in the gun Baldwin was holding.
While Baldwin is still facing nearly a dozen civil suits over the Rust tragedy, Gutierrez-Reed has a hearing on September 26 that could see her receive an immediate release from detention if Judge Sommer agrees the suppression of the Teske bullets tainted her case too.
