Defending the state’s dealing with of the “Rust” capturing case, New Mexico particular prosecutor Kari T. Morrissey has requested the choose to take one other have a look at the circumstances that prompted the dismissal of Alec Baldwin’s manslaughter cost.
In a court docket submitting Friday, Morrissey requested New Mexico First Judicial Circuit Courtroom Decide Mary Marlowe Sommer to rethink her determination to throw out Baldwin’s manslaughter case.
Six weeks in the past, Marlowe Sommer dramatically ended Baldwin’s legal trial after potential new proof got here to gentle. A former police officer who lives in Arizona had months earlier delivered practically two dozen .45-caliber rounds to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Division, saying they may have been associated to the “Rust” capturing 2½ years earlier that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
The previous officer, Troy Teske, is a buddy of Thell Reed, a famous Hollywood armorer and father of “Rust” weapons handler Hannah Gutierrez, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in March within the capturing. Teske was scheduled to be a witness in her trial however Gutierrez’s protection legal professional determined to not name Teske to testify.
After the Gutierrez trial and earlier than leaving Santa Fe, Teske turned over the ammunition he had delivered to New Mexico to native sheriff’s deputies. The casings of three of the rounds appeared to match the deadly bullet within the “Rust” film set capturing, deputies later testified.
Throughout Baldwin’s trial, the Santa Fe County sheriff’s crime scene technician testified that she took the rounds from Teske and positioned them into proof storage. Nonetheless, the rounds weren’t included as a part of the “Rust” capturing proof, later testimony confirmed.
As an alternative the ammunition was filed beneath a special case quantity — a proven fact that Baldwin’s attorneys pounced on as proof that the state was allegedly hiding materials that may have been useful to Baldwin’s protection.
The choose agreed and dismissed the legal cost.
In her 52-page movement, Morrissey argued that protection attorneys knew extra in regards to the Teske rounds than she did. She wrote the state of affairs surrounding the rounds didn’t rise to a degree that warranted Marlowe Sommer’s dismissal of the case with prejudice, which means it couldn’t be refiled.
Morrissey asserted that the tardy disclosure of the Teske rounds didn’t hamper Baldwin’s protection as a result of his attorneys apparently knew in regards to the ammunition earlier than the trial. Morrissey additionally argued the rounds had been unrelated to the fees that Baldwin confronted.
“It by no means occurred to the State that the Teske rounds had been related to the case in opposition to Mr. Baldwin and they aren’t,” Morrissey wrote.
A Baldwin consultant was not instantly obtainable for remark.
Morrissey wrote that the state, which had simply two attorneys on the Baldwin case, lacked the sources of the actor’s staff, which included at the least 9 legal professionals. She requested the choose to ask Baldwin’s legal professionals to reveal after they discovered of the Teske rounds — presumably to indicate that it was effectively earlier than Baldwin’s trial that started with jury choice on July 9.
Morrissey additionally wrote in her movement that the crime scene technician, Marissa Poppell, was not making an attempt to mislead the choose when she testified that the Teske rounds had been dissimilar to those uncovered on the “Rust” film set in October 2021.
“She offered mistaken and inaccurate testimony as a result of individuals sometimes make errors,” Morrissey wrote.
In July, the choose grew visibly offended when she noticed that three of the rounds did seem to match the reside ammunition discovered on the “Rust” set.
Morrissey stated the choose ought to have thought of much less extreme cures, corresponding to declaring a mistrial to provide Baldwin’s staff the chance to examine the rounds and have them examined by the FBI.
The choose has scheduled a listening to later this month to contemplate a separate movement filed by Gutierrez’s legal professional to throw out her conviction or grant a brand new trial.