N.M. prosecutor wants court to reinstate case against Alec Baldwin

Sept. 4 (UPI) -- Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey asked a New Mexico court Wednesday to reinstate an involuntary manslaughter charge against actor Alec Baldwin after a judge dismissed the case in July.

Morrissey in a court filing said Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer erred in ruling the state withheld evidence from Baldwin's defense attorneys and dismissed the case with prejudice, which means the actor can't be tried again for involuntary manslaughter unless an appellate court overturns Sommer's ruling.

The case stems from the accidental shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who died when a bullet was fired from a pistol while Baldwin was practicing his draw before filming a scene on location in New Mexico for the film Rust in 2021.

Baldwin maintained his innocence as the trial entered its third day and said he never pulled the trigger.

Sommer granted a motion to dismiss with prejudice filed by Baldwin's attorneys after prosecutors didn't notify them of a box of newly found ammunition and instead suppressed the evidence.

Baldwin's trial in the Santa Fe, N.M., courthouse had reached its halfway mark when his attorneys filed the motion to dismiss the case with prejudice.

Sommer ruled the state suppressed the evidence, which was a box of ammunition that someone brought to the local sheriff's office and said it might be related to the Rust shooting.

In Wednesday's filing, Morrissey argued the facts don't support Sommer's dismissal ruling.

She said the box of ammunition is irrelevant and Sommer should not have dismissed the case.

A jury in the same court found Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed guilty of involuntary manslaughter earlier this year.

Gutierrez-Reed, who is serving an 18-month prison sentence, filed a motion to dismiss the verdict against her.

A friend of her stepfather named Troy Teske turned in the ammunition, but Morrissey and others allowed it to be filed with a different case number and did not notify Baldwin's attorneys.

In Wednesday's filing, Morrissey said the prosecution accidentally mishandled the evidence but didn't suppress it.