The judge in Alec Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter trial has blasted prosecutors’ “gross” misconduct, as last month led to the goal being written off – and the judge said it cannot be submitted again.
In a 21-page ruling this week, District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer took the prosecution to task “deliberately and willfully” withhold evidence from Baldwin’s legal team, according to new documents obtained by TMZ.
It was the “willful and intentional misconduct,” Sommer wrote in the ruling, which ultimately left her with no choice but to dismiss the case on July 12, just three days after the trial began.
All other options “would not cure the fundamental injustice that the state’s misconduct, and its reverberations in the trial, had infused the proceedings,” she said.
Among the “serious discovery violations amounting to misconduct and perjury elicited at trial” were the orders allegedly given to Marissa Poppell. The crime scene technician testified that she had been told to turn in ammunition from the “Rust” investigation under a different case number so that Baldwin’s team would not see it.
Baldwin, who starred in and produced the film, was charged with involuntary manslaughter after his prop gun fired a live round, killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza, on the New Mexico set of “Rust” in October 2021.
“Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who was also charged with involuntary manslaughter, was found guilty in March and got a maximum of 18 months in prison.
Given the dismissal of Baldwin’s lawsuit, Gutierrez-Reed’s attorneys have requested that her conviction be overturnedclaims she was the subject of the same kind of prosecution.
Less than a week after his case was dismissed, Baldwin’s legal team signaled theirs plans to sue Santa Fe District Attorney Kari Morrisey and Sheriff Adan Mendoza for withholding evidence.