The ongoing trial against Alec Baldwin for the negligent killing of a camerawoman has been unexpectedly discontinued. Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer granted the request of the Hollywood star’s lawyers on Friday (local time). The defense had accused the public prosecutor’s office in Santa Fe (New Mexico) of misconduct.
Baldwin burst into tears in court. There were emotional scenes. The actor hugged his lawyers and his wife, Hilaria Baldwin, who was also in the courtroom. A short time later, he left the building as a free man.
Baldwin’s lawyers accuse prosecutors of gross procedural errors
The trial, which has been ongoing since Tuesday, focused on the question of whether the 66-year-old actor acted negligently when he fatally shot a camerawoman on the set of the 2021 western “Rust” and therefore has to go to prison. Lead actor Baldwin had pulled out a revolver during rehearsals, as requested by the director. But instead of harmless blanks, live ammunition went off. A bullet hit camerawoman Halyna Hutchins (42) and fatally injured her. If found guilty, Baldwin faces up to 18 months in prison.
Baldwin’s defense attorneys are now claiming that the prosecution withheld important evidence from them. It concerns a number of cartridges that surfaced a few months ago and were presented in an envelope by the judge in court on Friday.
From the defense’s point of view, the cartridges should have been part of the proceedings in earlier ballistics tests – but the prosecution had suppressed them, the New York Times explained the argument of Baldwin’s lawyers. It was a major procedural error on the part of the state not to make possible new evidence available to the defense.
