Rust prosecutor appeals over dismissal of Alec Baldwin manslaughter case
Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer brought the actor’s trial to a sudden end in July.
A prosecutor is seeking to overturn a judge’s decision to throw out an involuntary manslaughter charge against actor Alec Baldwin, after the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the film set of Rust.
The appeal notice, filed on November 21 but made public on Tuesday, marked another attempt by special prosecutor Kari Morrissey to resurrect the case after Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer brought Baldwin’s trial to a sudden end in July.
The judge threw the case out based on the misconduct of police and prosecutors over the withholding of ammunition evidence from the defence, while also confirming charges cannot be filed again.
While the court document did not specify the grounds for the appeal, Ms Morrissey has previously claimed that the judge “misunderstood” the evidence and dropped the Baldwin case “without hearing any of the testimony or argument”.
Rust debuted at the Camerimage Festival in Poland last week, three years after the prop gun US star Baldwin was holding went off and fatally injured Ms Hutchins on the set of the Western in New Mexico.
Ms Hutchins’ mother Olga Solovey said she refused to attend the Polish premiere, claiming that Baldwin was seeking to “unjustly profit from his killing of my daughter” in a statement shared by her lawyers.
On Monday, Baldwin told Variety that the ordeal was “the most difficult thing I’ve ever dealt with in my life”, as he was honoured with a lifetime award at the 42nd Torino Film Festival in Italy.
The actor said he was advised by mental health practitioners and cardiologists not to complete the film after Ms Hutchins’s death, because he was “very sick afterwards for a while, physically drained and ill”.
However, he decided to finish the film and waived his fee to give “everything to her husband” – who Mr Baldwin claimed now solely owns the film.
Baldwin added that the notion anybody had profited from the film’s sale and distribution was “blatantly untrue” and “absolutely wrong”.
Meanwhile, Rust armourer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed is serving an 18-month sentence after being convicted of involuntary manslaughter in March following the death of Ms Hutchins.
She recently had her appeals for a new trial and immediate release from prison rejected, but continues to appeal for her case to be dismissed.
Ms Morrissey and representatives for Baldwin have been contacted for comment.
