Adam Ferguson
Alec Baldwin Trial, July 2024
Following First Judicial District Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer’s July 12 dismissal with prejudice of the involuntary manslaughter case against Rust star Alec Baldwin, District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies says she’s “disappointed” in the outcome, but says Special Prosecutor Kari Morrissey’s “appointment and oath are still in place” for any future legal proceedings related to former Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed’s case.
“Our goal from the beginning was to seek justice for Halyna Hutchins, and we fought to get this case tried on its merits,” Carmack-Altwies said in a provided statement. “There is no better advocate than Kari Morrissey to see the Hannah Gutierrez-Reed cases through.”
The district attorney will not be giving interviews regarding Rust or providing additional statements “until our office has had sufficient time to evaluate what occurred last week and how we plan to move forward,” First Judicial District spokesperson Nathan Lederman says.
Marlowe Sommer dismissed the case against the actor in the Oct. 21, 2021 on-set shooting that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins following so-called Brady violations in which a prosecutor fails to disclose information that could help the defendant.
More specifically, testimony from Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office crime scene technician Marissa Poppell revealed retired police officer Troy Teske had dropped off live rounds to investigators the day of former Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed’s conviction in March, which the defense team said was not disclosed to them. Corporal Alexandria Hancock, the former lead detective in the case, told attorneys the decision to file the evidence under a separate case file was a mutual one between Lieutenant Brian Brandle, herself and Morrissey “pending further investigation.”
The decision, some legal experts say, capped a prosecution riddled with errors.
Former federal prosecutor and current president of the Los Angeles-based West Coast Trial Lawyers Neama Rahmani, who also teaches at his alma mater Harvard Law School, tells SFR he would grade prosecutors’ handling of the case “an F minus” from the beginning.
“It is the worst handled case in my more than 20-year career as a lawyer and a former prosecutor. I’ve never seen a case botched like this,” he says, noting the district attorney initially added an unconstitutional firearm enhancement charge in the case; appointed a special prosecutor who was a member of the New Mexico Legislature; and dismissed and then refiled the charge through a grand jury nearly a year after dropping it.
Then prosecutors committed “the cardinal sin,” he adds.
“It wasn’t for Morrissey to decide whether to turn over Brady evidence or exculpatory material. That is the worst thing you can do as a prosecutor,” Rahmani says. “Every first-year law student knows that you’re not supposed to do this, so it’s shocking behavior. I think Morrissey’s only chance would have been to argue that the failure of disclosure was inadvertent, but when it was clear that it was willful, they were done. This case was lost by the prosecution more than it was won by Baldwin.”
The evidence, Rahmani argues, may ultimately help Gutierrez-Reed, adding he thinks the case will be tossed. In April, Marlowe Sommer gave the former armorer the maximum sentence for her negligent behavior in the same incident, which Gutierrez-Reed filed to appeal in May.
“If anything, [the ammunition] exonerates her more than Baldwin, and that’s the evidence. It was so powerful when the judge examined it,” Rahmani says. “When some of the colors match and there is at least some credible argument, it could impact things.”
Baldwin commented on his trial’s outcome in an Instagram post July 13.
“There are too many people who have supported me to thank just now,” he wrote in the caption. “To all of you, you will never know how much I appreciate your kindness toward my family.”
