MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
In a surprise move, this afternoon a judge in New Mexico has dismissed the involuntary manslaughter trial of actor Alec Baldwin. He had been charged in the deadly 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. That was on the set of the movie "Rust." But the judge ruled that new evidence was never presented to his attorneys. NPR's Mandalit del Barco has been following the trial. Hey there, Mandalit.
MANDALIT DEL BARCO, BYLINE: Hi, Mary Louise.
KELLY: Hi. So I mean, so many twists and turns in this case - how did things end up with this?
DEL BARCO: Wow, yeah. You know, Alec Baldwin had been facing 18 months in prison if he was convicted. And his trial began on Wednesday with prosecutors saying he pulled the trigger that killed Halyna Hutchins while he was working out a scene for "Rust." The jury was listening to witnesses testify about the gun and ammunitions. They were trying to work out how a live bullet might have gotten to the set and onto the prop gun that Baldwin was pointing.
But late yesterday, the actor's team filed a motion to dismiss the trial. They said what could have been key evidence to help his case was suppressed, and they asked the judge to throw out the case. Today, during a motion hearing, without the jury present, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer agreed saying that the prosecution had failed to disclose evidence and - that she said was prejudicial.
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MARY MARLOWE SOMMER: 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. Your motion to dismiss with prejudice is granted.
DEL BARCO: You know, after her ruling, Alec Baldwin broke down in tears. His wife cried, and there were hugs all around from his side.
KELLY: OK, but hold on, you said key evidence that had been suppressed. Like what?
DEL BARCO: Yeah, well, that had to do with how police and prosecutors treated a handful of bullets that were turned in a few months ago after the film's armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in this same accident. Witnesses from the sheriff's office tested (ph) that after her trial, a man named Troy Teske turned in a collection of bullets that he said were from the same batch as the live round used in the accidental shooting. He was never asked to give a statement, and those bullets were filed with a different case number. Now, prosecutor Kari Morrissey said Teske was a good friend of Hannah Gutierrez-Reed's father, a well-known armorer named Thell Reed. And she said that those bullets were not the same as the fatal bullet that killed Halyna Hutchins. Here she is in court this morning.
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KARI MORRISSEY: This is a wild goose chase. This has no evidentiary value whatsoever. This is simply a man trying to protect his daughter.
DEL BARCO: You know, Morrisey later was on the witness stand, and she admitted that she didn't think the evidence was relevant to this "Rust" trial.
KELLY: OK. And where did Baldwin's attorneys come down on this?
DEL BARCO: Well, they argued they never got a chance to test that possible evidence. And, you know, I should note...
KELLY: Uh-oh, Mandalit, we've got a blip in the line. Let's see if we can get you back. I'm going to see if I can...
DEL BARCO: Coming in - I should note that Baldwin's team had many times tried to get this case dismissed, and until now the judge ruled against that. Also, during this motion hearing today, we learned that the other prosecutor who had been arguing the case against Baldwin, Erlinda Johnson, resigned suddenly today.
KELLY: So is that it? Is this over?
DEL BARCO: Well, you know, since this was dismissed with prejudice, this case against Alec Baldwin cannot ever be brought again. That doesn't mean we won't be hearing more about this, though. You know, the armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, is now in prison serving an 18-month sentence. Her attorney had filed an appeal to her conviction. I don't know if this new twist will mean anything for her.
KELLY: Right.
DEL BARCO: But Alec Baldwin is not going to prison for accidentaling (ph) Halyna Hutchins. That's the headline here.
KELLY: And it's a big one. NPR's Mandalit del Barco, thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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