Judge rejects Baldwin's request for dismissal

May 24—A state district judge has denied actor Alec Baldwin's motion to dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge in the 2021 shooting death of a cinematographer on a movie set south of Santa Fe.

Baldwin's legal team had argued special prosecutor Kari Morrissey failed to present evidence favorable to the actor's defense to members of the grand jury reviewing his case, despite being specifically ordered to do so by a judge.

In her order, issued Friday, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer wrote the law gives prosecutors broad discretion on what evidence to present or exclude "absent a showing of prosecutorial bad faith."

Baldwin faces the charge in connection with the shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who died after being struck by a bullet fired from a gun he wielded during the walkthrough of a scene from the movie Rust, which was filming outside Santa Fe at the time.

Authorities determined the film's armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, had inadvertently brought live bullets onto the set of the western and mistakenly loaded one of them into the revolver Baldwin used in the scene.

Gutierrez-Reed and the film's assistant director, David Halls, both were charged in connection with Hutchins' death.

Sommer sentenced Gutierrez-Reed to 18 months in prison last month following her conviction by a jury on a charge of involuntary manslaughter. Halls pleaded no contest in 2023 to negligent use of a deadly weapon and was sentenced to six months of probation.

State prosecutors have said Baldwin also was responsible, accusing him of acting recklessly by failing to check the ammunition in the gun wasn't live and pointing the weapon in Hutchins' direction and pulling the trigger.

Baldwin has denied he pulled the trigger, claiming the pistol simply went off as he was holding it. He pleaded not guilty to the fourth-degree felony charge, which carries a maximum sentence of 18 months in jail.

He is scheduled to stand trial in July in Santa Fe.

However, the defense still has two pending motions seeking dismissal that have not yet been heard, which could potentially end the case before trial.

One asks the court to dismiss the case on the basis of destruction of evidence. It's based on the fact the FBI damaged the revolver during ballistics testing. The other argues the state has failed to accuse Baldwin of a criminal offense.

The latter motion argues Baldwin could not have been "aware of a substantial risk" his alleged actions could cause — a required element of the fourth-degree felony charge — "because he had no reason to believe that the firearm contained live ammunition."

"The parties were on a movie set, where 'the prospect of live ammunition' being present 'is incomprehensible' as the State itself has argued in open court," Baldwin's defense team wrote in the motion filed earlier this month.

"We look forward to our day in court," Baldwin attorneys Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro wrote in an email sent by a spokeswoman Friday.

District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies declined through a spokesman to comment on the ruling, directing questions to Morrissey, who did not respond to an email seeking comment.

The judge, who heard arguments from both sides last week, wrote in Friday's order she had not found bad faith on the part of the prosecution, nor had she found structural errors with the way the state presented evidence to the grand jury.

The judge wrote the lack of evidence of bad faith caused her to limit her review of some of the arguments made by Baldwin's team, which would have required a finding of bad faith be present in order for them to be relevant.

She did specifically reject several other arguments Baldwin's lawyers made in support of dismissal. The judge denied the defense argument the state had waived its opposition to some of the arguments in the motion by failing to cite case law in its response brief, writing New Mexico law recognizes a "strong bent in favor of deciding matters on their merits."