Nearly half a year following First Judicial District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer’s dismissal with prejudice of the involuntary manslaughter case against Rust actor Alec Baldwin, the actor has filed a lawsuit against the district attorney and several others involved in the prosecution’s side of the case.
The 73-page complaint filed Jan. 9 in the First Judicial Court accuses its defendants of violation of constitutional rights, conspiracy to cause violation of constitutional rights, malicious abuse of process, intentional spoliation of evidence, defamation and violation of the New Mexico Civil Rights Act. The complaint demands a jury trial.
“Defendants’ misconduct in their pursuit of Baldwin, and the trial judge’s condemnation of them, has already drawn worldwide attention,” the complaint states. “But this action is necessary to vindicate Baldwin’s rights and deter Defendants from attempting to do them to anyone else.”
The complaint requests an unspecified amount in general and/or compensatory damages to be determined at trial “for all injuries suffered as a result of Defendants’ wrongdoing,” as well as punitive damages, prejudgment interest at the maximum legal rate, legal fees and other relief as the court may deem just and proper.
The lawsuit names 9 defendants, including Special Prosecutor Kari Morrissey, who led the prosecution in Baldwin’s trial. The complaint claims Morrissey knowingly failed to disclose exculpatory information she had received from the state’s expert witnesses.
The complaint claims the investigation into the October 2021 on-set shooting that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins initially focused on finding out how live ammunition got on the Rust set, but “as prosecutors became more involved in the case…they instead fixated on Baldwin.”
The other defendants named are First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies and Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Padgett Macias; officers Alexandria Hancock and Brian Brandle from the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office; Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office crime scene technician Marissa Poppell; former District Attorney for the Ninth Judicial District and current state representative Andrea Reeb, R-Clovis; the First Judicial District Attorney’s Office and the Santa Fe County Board of County Commissioners.
The complaint also alleges Carmack-Altwies and Reeb violated ethical standards by making public, extrajudicial statements about the case, citing interviews the prosecutors had done with ABC News, CNN, Fox News, NBC News and the Santa Fe New Mexican.
“In carrying out their conspiracy, Defendants were driven by ill motives and to accomplish illegitimate ends,” the complaint says. “Defendants’ actions were not undertaken in good faith and were in violation with clearly established law.”
Sommer dismissed the case against Baldwin three days into the trial in July 2024, citing case law regarding Brady violations, in which a prosecutor fails to disclose information that could help the defendant, and reviewed the required elements: proof the prosecution suppressed or withheld evidence, even in absence of bad faith; proof the evidence was favorable to the accused; and proof the evidence is material. Sommer determined all criteria had been met.
“From the moment Defendants and their agents set foot on the scene of the incident, it should have been apparent that Baldwin had no culpability,” the complaint says.
Calls to the First Judicial District Attorney's Office by SFR have not yet been answered. Baldwin is represented by attorneys Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP and LeBlanc Law LLC.
This story has been updated.
