‘Rust’ Judge Rips Prosecutors After Alec Baldwin Case Dismissal, Cites “Fundamental Unfairness” & “Misconduct”

The judge in the Rust shooting case lit into the New Mexico prosecutors this week, citing “egregious discovery violations constituting misconduct and false testimony elicited during trial.”

In a ruling Wednesday, District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer noted a number of missteps in the state’s case against Rust star and producer Alec Baldwin and earlier the film’s armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed over the October 2021 on-set shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounding of director Joel Souza. Sommer’s 21-page ruling said dismissal was her only option because anything else “would not cure the fundamental unfairness that the State’s misconduct, and its reverberations in trial, had infused into the proceeding.” 

Erlinda Johnson and Kari Morrisey were the special prosecutors assigned to the Rust case.

Sommer dismissed the voluntary manslaughter case against Baldwin on July 12 — three days after the closely watched trial began — but Gutierrez-Reed remains incarcerated after her conviction in March. She now plans to appeal the voluntary manslaughter conviction and 18-month prison sentence. Gutierrez-Reed was found not guilty of a jury-tampering charge.

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MORE TO COME…