Alec Baldwin's Lawyers Claim 'Rust' Prosecutor 'Lied About' Buried Evidence

Actor Alec Baldwin does not want to go back to trial, especially when Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed the case with prejudice back in July.

The 66-year-old actor and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed were first charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with the death of "Rust" cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in January 2023. The charges against Baldwin were dropped in April 2023 and refiled in January 2024.

The 27-year-old armorer was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to the state maximum of 18 months behind bars; however, the judge dismissed the state's case against the "30 Rock" actor on the third day of the trial when she concluded that the prosecutors had colluded with law enforcement officials to bury evidence against him in what she deemed was a clear violation of the Brady rule.

On August 30, special prosecutor Kari T. Morrissey filed a motion trying to get the trial against Alec Baldwin started yet again. However, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer shut down the prosecutor's attempt to revive the case, arguing that the filing she submitted was way over the page limit.

On Friday, September 20, court documents obtained by People magazine show Baldwin's legal team claiming that Morrissey has “continued abuse of the judicial process” by trying to get the case renewed even though it was dismissed with prejudice.

In the September 20 filing, Baldwin's legal team claimed that Morrissey "repeatedly violated the State's disclosure obligations, buried evidence, lied about it at trial, and then lied about her reasons for lying about it."

"Not only has the State failed to present any new information to warrant reconsideration, but the new information that has emerged since trial only underscores the strength and necessity of the Court's judgment," they continued.

"The Court should 'ensure the integrity of the judicial system and the efficient administration of justice' by striking and denying the State's motion," they added.

In the motion, his legal team argued that the court should strike the state's defective motion and deny the state's motion for reconsideration, claiming the prosecutor's misconduct was "egregious" and warrants the case to be dismissed in its entirety.

"The court should deny the State's Amended Motion, or in the alternative, strike the Amended Motion as untimely and award Baldwin attorneys' fees," they wrote in the filing.

Alec Baldwin was holding a firearm on the set of the Western film when it went off, striking and killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and hospitalizing director Joel Souza. Baldwin has long since maintained that he never pulled the trigger and had no idea how live ammunition ended up on a movie set or inside the gun he was holding.

On the third day of witness testimony, Baldwin's attorney Luke Nikas argued that a man named Troy Teske, who was a friend of Hannah Gutierrez-Reed's father, veteran armorer Thell Reed, submitted live ammunition to police that he thought was connected to the case. However, the police officers worked with Kari Morrissey to put this new evidence under a different case number and never submitted it to the defense until a crime scene technician accidentally disclosed the existence of the additional bullets when she was testifying on the second day of the trial.

In a shocking twist of events, Kari Morrissey took the stand on the third day of the trial and tried to explain why she decided to put the new evidence under a new case number and not disclose it to the defense. However, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer decided she violated the Brady rule and felt that the only appropriate remedy was to dismiss the case against Baldwin with prejudice, meaning that he cannot be criminally charged for the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins again.

On July 12, as she announced her decision, Judge Sommer said, “The late discovery of this evidence during trial has impeded the effective use of evidence in such a way that it has impacted the fundamental fairness of the proceedings."

Alec Baldwin faced 18 months in prison if convicted and was visibly emotional in court upon hearing the news. He was surrounded by his wife, Hilaria Baldwin, and his siblings, who had traveled to New Mexico to support the actor.