Good news for Alec Baldwin! Manslaughter case closed against Rust actor

New Delhi, India

It’s good news for Alec Baldwin and his team as the manslaughter case against the actor is finally over. 

At the start of this week on Monday, special prosecutor Kari Morrissey announced that she had withdrawn her appeal against the judge’s order dismissing the case. 

The latest on Alec Baldwin

Rust actor Alec Baldwin was accused of involuntary manslaughter in October 2021 for the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. On the set of western epic Rust, Halyna Hutchins died after a live round was fired accidentally when it should have been a prop gun with no live rounds. 

Alec was said to have pressed the trigger without knowledge of the gun being live. Alec never admitted the same. At a trial last July, the prosecution intended to show that Baldwin was reckless and criminally negligent when he fired a Colt .45 while preparing for a scene in the movie Rust.

The case was dismissed by Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer on the third day of the trial. The court argued that the prosecution had failed to turn over key evidence — a cache of bullets — to the defence. 

The judge even blasted Morrissey’s handling of the case, calling it “so near to bad faith as to show signs of scorching.”

Meanwhile, Alec Baldwin’s lawyers argued that the prosecution had deliberately withheld the evidence, which could have been used in his defence. Before the trial was cut short, the defence argued that as an actor, Baldwin was not responsible for gun safety on set, and could not have known that his gun was loaded with a real bullet.

Baldwin’s lawyers, Alex Spiro and Luke Nikas had said earlier that they did not believe Attorney General Raúl Torrez would pursue the appeal. They hailed the decision to withdraw it.

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The decision to withdraw the appeal wasn't met with a positive response from the Hutchins family. Halyna Hutchins’ mother, father, and sister were consulted prior to the withdrawal of the appeal and expressed their opposition. The family is continuing to pursue a civil case against Baldwin and the film’s producers in state court in New Mexico.

In a statement, Morrissey said, “This has always been about seeking justice for Halyna Hutchins. We regret that Mr. Baldwin will not be held accountable for the role he played in the death of Halyna Hutchins and as we withdraw the appeal, we do so with the hope that the outstanding lawsuits bring some measure of justice to the family of Halyna Hutchins.”