By Andrew Hay
SANTA FE, New Mexico (Reuters) – A New Mexico judge sent home jurors in the involuntary manslaughter trial of Alec Baldwin on Friday in a surprise move after lawyers for the actor sought dismissal of charges alleging police hid evidence of the source of the live round that killed “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in 2021.
On the third day of Baldwin’s trial, the actor’s lawyers said the Santa Fe sheriff’s office took possession of live rounds as evidence in the case but failed to list them in the “Rust” investigation file or disclose their existence to defense lawyers.
“This was hidden from us,” Baldwin’s lawyer Alex Spiro told a sheriff’s office crime scene technician under cross examination out of jurors’ hearing.
Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer outlined a plan to hear evidence on the motion. It was not clear when she would rule on it.
University of New Mexico law professor Joshua Kastenberg,
who has been following the case but is not involved, said the charge against Baldwin could be thrown out if the prosecution failed to disclose evidence to Baldwin’s lawyers or they did not know of the evidence until the trial started.
“A judge could dismiss if there was malfeasance on the part of the sheriff’s office,” Kastenberg said.
The judge later told jurors to come back on Monday morning, acknowledging the move was unusual. She did not tell jurors why they were being dismissed for the day without hearing evidence.
The technician, Marissa Poppel, said the rounds were not hidden from Baldwin and she was told to file them and details on how they were obtained under a different case number to the “Rust” case. She disputed Spiro’s assertion the Colt .45 ammunition matched the round that killed Hutchins.
Prosecutor Kari Morrissey questioned the allegation the evidence was concealed from Baldwin.
“If you buried it how did the defense attorneys know to cross examine you about it yesterday?” asked Morrissey.
The Colt .45 rounds were handed into the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office on March 6 by Troy Teske, a friend of Thell Reed, the stepfather of “Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez, on the same day Gutierrez was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for Hutchins’ death.
Prosecutors accused Gutierrez of bringing the live rounds onto the set, an allegation she denied. Defense attorneys accuse props supplier Seth Kenney of supplying the live rounds. He has denied the allegation and has not been charged in the case.
Prosecutors allege Baldwin played a role in the death of Hutchins because he handled the gun irresponsibly. His lawyers say Baldwin was failed by Gutierrez and others responsible for safety on the set, and that law enforcement agents were more interested in prosecuting their client than finding the source of a live round that killed Hutchins.
(Reporting By Andrew Hay; editing by Donna Bryson and Josie Kao)
