A New Mexico judge has recently upheld her decision to dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against actor Alec Baldwin in the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film Rust. District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer reaffirmed her July ruling, stating that prosecutors did not provide any new factual or legal arguments to justify reversing her decision.
The case against Baldwin was thrown out midway through the trial due to allegations that police and prosecutors withheld evidence from the defense relating to the 2021 death of Hutchins. The trial was further complicated by revelations that ammunition potentially related to the shooting was brought to the Santa Fe County sheriff's office, but was deemed unrelated and unimportant by prosecutors.
Despite the dismissal of charges, special prosecutor Kari Morrissey has expressed disagreement with the court's decision and plans to appeal the ruling. Morrissey was appointed to the case in March 2023 after a previous special prosecutor resigned following procedural missteps.
Baldwin's lawyers have not provided an immediate reaction to the judge's decision. The lead actor and co-producer of Rust has maintained that he did not pull the trigger of the gun that killed Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza during a rehearsal on set.
In a separate development, movie weapons supervisor Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was sentenced to 18 months in prison for involuntary manslaughter in relation to Hutchins's death. Gutierrez-Reed's request to dismiss her conviction or hold a new trial was rejected by Judge Marlowe Sommer, who determined that the evidence withheld by prosecutors would not have altered the outcome of the trial.
The legal proceedings surrounding the tragic shooting on the set of Rust continue to unfold, with appeals and ongoing investigations shaping the narrative moving forward.