Courtesy Santa Fe County Sheriff
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Video from the set of "Rust" shows actor and producer Alec Baldwin during a rehearsal.
First Judicial District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer says she’ll issue a decision next week regarding Alec Baldwin’s lawyers motion to dismiss involuntary manslaughter charges against him in the Oct. 21, 2021, fatal on-set shooting that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
Marlowe Sommer heard arguments from Baldwin’s defense attorneys and probed Special Prosecutor Kari Morrissey during a hearing on May 17.
Alex Spiro and Luke Nikas—Baldwin’s attorneys—argued the state prosecutors violated court orders as it pertained to the proceedings that indicted Baldwin the second time by refusing to present most of the “significant exculpatory and favorable witnesses and documents” provided by the defense to the jury. Spiro added he believed that “the fix was in” and prosecutors never intended to do so in the first place.
“You have to have the witnesses and the evidence there, and the grand jury needs to know that it’s there. It’s a real process. This isn’t rubber stamps,” Spiro argued, alleging Morrissey had not made contact with the defense’s witnesses ahead of the grand jury proceedings. “There were no witnesses there to testify, there was no evidence binder of the defense’s exhibits, so even if the jury did want to speak to somebody, there was no time. There was no ability,” he said.
In mid-March, following former armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed’s conviction on the same charge, Baldwin asked the First Judicial District Court to dismiss the involuntary manslaughter charge against him. The motion from Baldwin’s attorneys alleges Baldwin faced “unethical disparagement” on the part of the state before dismissing the case the first time, and also when Special Prosecutors Morrissey and Jason Lewis refiled the charges more than two and a half years later. In subsequent motions weeks later, defense attorneys for Baldwin added the court should dismiss the case because the state failed to allege a criminal offense and it destroyed the firearm involved in the incident.
Lewis stepped away from the special prosecutor role in the case last month, and First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies appointed Erlinda Johnson as the new special prosecutor to handle Baldwin’s trial.
Spiro told Marlowe Sommer that prosecutors led the grand jury “to the closed door of the grand jury room with not sufficient explanation and information…We need this court to step in and check this abuse of power.”
Morrissey, on the other hand, argued to Marlowe Sommer “the facts don’t support a dismissal of the indictment” and disputed that she refused to show evidence to the grand jury that could be unfavorable to the state.
“We did everything we were supposed to do. We went above and beyond,” Morrissey said, noting she reminded the grand jury at the end of the evidence portion that they could review the documents provided by defense.
Marlowe Sommer focused mainly on the selected witnesses for the grand jury proceedings for both the state and the defense. She questioned Morrissey on why she failed to contact the defense’s witnesses prior to the grand jury proceedings as Spiro had argued. The special prosecutor disputed that she didn’t reach out and added the defense’s witnesses had been generally cooperative and she felt she could get them there if needed.
“Common sense tells me you should’ve reached out ahead of time,” Marlowe Sommer replied.
When asked why she failed to reiterate to the jury that witnesses were available, Morrissey added “the law and the case law doesn’t require me to do it.”
Marlowe Sommer also scrutinized Morrissey’s decision to block Corporal Alexandra Hancock, the lead investigator in the case against Gutierrez-Reed, from answering a question from a juror about whose responsibility it was to ensure the firearm was safe. The judge noted Herrera v. Sanchez—a case both parties referenced during their arguments—ended in a dismissal because the prosecutor prevented the grand jury from inquiring into the facts.
“It was not my intention to prevent the grand jury from getting the information,” Morrissey replied, arguing Hancock did not have the expertise to answer the question posed. “I just wanted the grand jury to get accurate information.”
Despite Marlowe Sommer’s tough round of questioning, Los Angeles entertainment attorney Tre Lovell—who has followed the case and viewed the motion hearing’s live stream today—tells SFR the chances of the judge granting the motion is “very unlikely” because “the grand jury is not the trial jury.”
“The prosecutors are given great latitude with the evidence that they could present to the grand jury,” he says, “and it’s really to present a case that could potentially have probable cause for a conviction.”
Though Lovell believes Marlowe Sommer “was tough on the questioning” with Morrissey, he doesn’t think she’ll “actually pull the trigger.”
“Most judges are just very reticent to kick out a case if there’s any type of factual discrepancy, because they want to let it go to the jury, let our system of justice run its course, because when a judge is going to take it away from the jury, it has to be unequivocal that this defendant is not responsible, and the majority cases aren’t really like that,” Lovell says. “I think the judge wants to make sure she’s not favoring the prosecution. She’s going to ask tough questions.”
Marlowe Sommer said she will issue a written order on the motion next week.
If the case is not dismissed, Baldwin’s trial is set to begin July 10. Marlowe Sommer last month gave Gutierrez-Reed the maximum sentence—18 months—for her negligent behavior in the same incident that resulted in Hutchins death. Gutierrez-Reed filed motions to appeal that determination and be released from prison in early May.
