At 10:15 a.m. MST on Friday, 16 jurors in one of the most closely watched trials in state history were dismissed from their weekend duties. They had expected to return on Monday, but were told by the court that their duties were over.
On Friday, July 12, the judge rust The manslaughter charge was dropped in the case. Alec Baldwin He immediately burst into tears.
On the third day of the trial, before the jury entered the courtroom, Baldwin’s lawyer Luke Nikas The lawyer asked for the case against his client to be dropped, claiming that prosecutors are hiding evidence that would have helped shed light on how live ammunition was brought onto the set of a 2021 Western movie.
“The belated discovery of this evidence during trial prevented its effective use and affected the fundamental fairness of the proceedings,” Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer said, explaining in part her reasons for her decision to dismiss the case.
Prosecutors said they found the ammunition irrelevant and immaterial, while Baldwin’s defense team argued it was “concealed” and filed a motion to dismiss the case.
Jurors in the Santa Fe trial on Thursday heard from Baldwin’s lawyers about the ammunition theory and the so-called good Samaritans who came forward to investigators in the past few months claiming to have evidence of that theory. Alex Spiro.
By the judge’s decision, 30. Rock The actor died after a nearly three-year saga that began when Baldwin, 66, was rehearsing a scene on the film’s set when a gun he was holding went off, killing the cinematographer. Halina Hutchins Injured the manager Joel SouzaIn an interview, Baldwin maintained he did not know he pulled the trigger on the gun or why it contained live ammunition.
“Our goal from the beginning has been to seek justice for Halina Hutchins,” District Attorney Mary Carmack Altwis said in a statement. “It is unfortunate that this case did not reach a jury.”
In Baldwin’s case, the unexpected evidence may not have been material because Baldwin was not accused of having any role in the fatal bullet being at the scene of the shooting, but the defense’s failure to obtain the evidence was deemed egregious enough to merit dismissal of the case.
In the end, Alec and his wife Hilaria BaldwinThere were lots of hugs and relief that his case hadn’t progressed any further.
A judge on Friday dismissed the case against Alec Baldwin, who was charged with manslaughter in the 2022 death of cinematographer Halina Hutchins while filming the movie “Lust.”
more: https://t.co/IQaClFKxGz pic.twitter.com/zOqU9zPFfA— NewsNation (@NewsNation) July 12, 2024