Alec Baldwin could face a retrial in the death of “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins as prosecutors claim the actor’s legal team employed trickery to sway the court into dropping involuntary manslaughter charges against him last month.
Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey has filed motions to reconsider the dismissal of the manslaughter case with the hopes of continuing to pursue charges against the “30 Rock” star after they were thrown out last month by State District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer over allegations of prejudice.
Morrissey insisted there was no “cover-up” of key evidence by the prosecution as alleged, and claims Baldwin’s lawyers engaged in legal subterfuge to get the case tossed on false pretenses, according to court filings.
“This is a smoke screen created by the defense and was intended to sway and confuse the court … and it was successful,” Morrissey said in the Aug. 30 motion.
The 52-page court document alleges that Baldwin’s defense knew about the live ammunition or “Teske rounds” despite claiming they didn’t, and successfully feigned ignorance as a legal argument to get the case thrown out.
The three live rounds in question were delivered to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department by former cop Troy Teske — a friend of the father of “Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez — months before the trial.
A sheriff’s office CSU technician later testified she took the rounds and placed them into storage, but they were not used as evidence in the case because they were filed under a different case number, which Baldwin’s lawyers argued constituted hiding key evidence from them.
The motion claims the defense had the chance to cross-examine witnesses on the evidence, and even cancelled an opportunity to view the rounds before trial.
In a sprawling and emotional courtroom battle in mid-July, Baldwin’s top lawyers, Alex Spiro and Luke Nikas, cried prejudice over “concealed” live ammunition related to Hutchins’ 2021 shooting.
The allegation prompted a marathon hearing in which Judge Sommer heard from several witnesses, including Morrissey, who claimed the ammunition was not relevant to Baldwin’s case and had not been hidden from the defense.
Judge Sommer dismissed the case halfway through Baldwin’s trial “with prejudice,” based on the withholding of evidence by police and prosecutors, meaning the case cannot be filed again once all appeals have been exhausted.
She cited “severe discovery violations amounting to misconduct” by law enforcement and prosecutors, along with false testimony from a witness regarding physical evidence presented during the trial.
The shock ruling came on the third day of the involuntary manslaughter trial in which Baldwin — who’s in the midst of shooting a reality TV show focused on his family with wife Hilaria Baldwin — faced a maximum of 18 months behind bars if convicted.
Baldwin was accused of firing the gun that killed cinematographer Hutchins on set in October 2021.
According to incident reports, Baldwin allegedly picked up a gun that he didn’t realize was loaded with a live round. Police say he pointed it at Hutchins and fired once, shooting the 42-year-old mother dead.
In an affidavit after the shooting, the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office said that neither Baldwin nor first assistant director David Halls knew the gun was loaded with ammunition.
Halls later pleaded guilty to one count of negligent use of a deadly weapon and was sentenced to six months of unsupervised probation.
The armorer on the set, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in March and sentenced to 18 months in prison. Her legal team is now also appealing her conviction.
The movie, which resumed filming in 2023 after the fatal shooting, is set to be released sometime in 2024, but may be delayed until next year.
