Alec Baldwin Manslaughter Case Surprise Conclusion- Egregious Error

Prosecutors failed to turn over an important piece of evidence in the Alec Baldwin manslaughter case—the submission of a batch of bullets to the defense. As a result, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed the case.

“The state is highly culpable for failing to provide discovery to the defendant. Dismissal without prejudice is warranted,” the judge stated.

Failure to Turn Over Evidence in Alec Baldwin Manslaughter Case

Baldwin was on trial for the accidental shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, which occurred in 2021 during the filming of the movie” Rust.” The actor mistakenly discharged a gun he thought was unloaded, leading to Hutchins’s tragic death.

The issue of questionable evidence in the Alec Baldwin manslaughter case arose on Thursday, July 11, the second day of the trial, during questioning of sheriff crime scene technician Marissa Poppell. Baldwin’s lawyer asked Poppell whether a “good Samaritan” had brought ammunition to the sheriff’s office earlier this year following the sentencing of film armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed to 18 months in prison for her role in Hutchins’s death.

Poppell said she received and logged the ammunition and filed a report on it. However, the defense claimed the prosecution did not add it to the other relevant evidence. They accused the prosecution of burying it.

Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey clarified that retired Arizona police officer Troy Treske, a friend of Gutierrez Reed’s father, provided the bullets. Moreover, Morrissey asserted that the submitted bullets differed in size and chemical composition from those on set.

Prosecutors Claim Wild Goose Chase

“This is a wild goose chase that has no evidentiary value whatsoever. This is just a man trying to protect his daughter,” Morrissey said. She later stated that she felt the submission of evidence was an attempt to shift the blame off Gutierrez Reed and onto Seth Kenney, who had supplied some of the film’s ammunition.

The judge determined the issue was serious enough to follow up on. She put on latex gloves to examine the evidence in court. She then dismissed the trial for the day pending further evidence from Poppell and Seth Kenney.

The judge subsequently dismissed the case with prejudice, invoking the principle of double jeopardy, preventing any retrial.

Reaction to the Ruling on Alec Baldwin Manslaughter Case

Marlowe Sommer expressed disappointment with the prosecution for not presenting the evidence in the Alec Baldwin manslaughter case. Consequently, she said, “The state is highly culpable for its failure to provide discovery to the defendant.”

Lawyer and legal commentator John Day was disappointed, stating, “This was a disaster for the New Mexico judicial system. They got a huge allocation of public funds to prosecute this case. This was an absolute catastrophe.”

Morrissey defended the prosecutors. “I am disappointed because I believe that the importance of the evidence was misconstrued by the defense attorneys. We did everything humanly possible to bring justice to Halyna and her family, and we’re proud of the work that we did,” she said.

The outcome shocked the jury, and a gasp swept through the courtroom as the judge declared her ruling.

Baldwin and her family felt relief as the actor’s family and supporters hugged him.

He and his wife, Hilaria, exited the courtroom in tears. They went directly into a waiting black GMC Suburban. Despite the masses of press waiting outside the courtroom, they didn’t stop to comment on the case’s outcome.