SANTA FE, N.M. — The involuntary manslaughter case against “Rust” star Alec Baldwin was dismissed by a judge Friday after the actor’s defense attorneys raised new questions over how New Mexico law enforcement officers and prosecutors handled evidence in the case.
Amid the scrutiny during the high-profile criminal trial, one of the state’s two special prosecutors — Erlinda O. Johnson — resigned from the case.
During the Santa Fe trial, the actor’s lawyers sought to shift focus away from whether he pulled his gun’s trigger in the accidental shooting that killed a cinematographer on the set of the movie “Rust” and onto another key question: Where did the lethal bullet come from?
Baldwin’s attorneys have repeatedly accused law enforcement officers and prosecutors of bungling the case, including by allegedly hiding evidence that could possibly solve the central mystery surrounding the deadly Oct. 21, 2021, shooting of Halyna Hutchins.
New Mexico First Judicial District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer sent the jury home for the day Friday morning after a dramatic hearing in which Baldwin’s attorney Luke Nikas demanded the case be dismissed, pointing to possible evidence related to the origin of the live ammo.
Baldwin’s attorneys accused the state of misconduct, pointing to a batch of unexamined bullets that a potential witness turned over to sheriff’s investigators months ago.
“This is critical evidence, your honor,” Nikas said.
The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office received the evidence in question three months ago, but it was never turned over to Baldwin’s defense team, Nikas said. In March, a retired Arizona police officer brought shell casings and bullets to the sheriff’s office, materials the former officer labeled as potential evidence in the “Rust” shooting.
Baldwin was indicted in January on one count of involuntary manslaughter in connection with Hutchins’ death. He had pleaded not guilty in the trial that began Wednesday.
The hearing featured a demonstration that even Marlowe Sommer called “unusual.” The judge ordered the evidence be brought to the courtroom. Minutes later, a sheriff’s deputy walked through the hushed courtroom with a package and handed it to the judge.
The black-robe-clad judge donned blue latex gloves and opened the sealed evidence envelope with a pair of scissors. Marlowe Sommer then walked to the well of the courtroom and directed a sheriff’s crime scene technician to assemble and inspect the contents of the bag — .45-caliber bullets.
The lead bullets found on the “Rust” set were housed in Starline Brass casings, making them easily identifiable to the investigators looking into the shooting — and some of the bullets introduced Friday also were stamped with Starline Brass.
Baldwin’s team asserted that charges against Baldwin must be dismissed, citing rules of evidence that require that defense attorneys be given evidence that could be helpful to their case.
Special prosecutor Kari T. Morrissey protested that the bullets produced by the retired officer, Troy Teske, came only after armorer Hannah Gutierrez was convicted of involuntary manslaughter. Morrissey described Teske as “a good friend” of Gutierrez’s stepfather Thell Reed, a longtime Hollywood armorer and sharpshooter.
The new collection of bullets “simply does not have any evidentiary value,” Morrissey insisted.
Still, the judge said she was concerned that proper disclosure hadn’t been given to the defense team, and she scrapped the day of testimony before the jury to hold a hearing into the handling of the Teske-supplied bullets.
The issue first surfaced during Crime Scene Technician Marissa Poppell’s testimony on Thursday. Baldwin’s other attorney Alex Spiro introduced the controversy, saying that a “Good Samaritan” had found evidence that could be helpful to the “Rust” shooting case earlier this year.
In his questioning, Spiro suggested that Santa Fe sheriff’s accused sheriff’s investigators of “burying” important evidence. On Friday, Nikas said the matter was just the latest misstep by prosecutors and investigators.
“It’s time for this case to be dismissed,” Nikas said.
“The fact that they concealed (the evidence), the fact that they put it under a separate document number, didn’t disclose the supplemental report, didn’t disclose the bullets. … If it was that irrelevant, and had no evidentiary value — it would have been there,” Nikas said.
Morrissey called the issue “a wild goose chase.”
“Your honor, there have been absolutely no violations of our obligations as prosecutors,” Morrissey said.
During Thursday’s testimony, Morrissey identified the “Good Samaritan” as a friend of Gutierrez’s stepfather.
“Are you aware that Troy Teske is a close friend of Hannah’s father?” Morrissey asked Poppell during Thursday’s testimony when the jury was present. “Are you aware that Troy Teske had his own motivations for wanting to help Ms. Gutierrez?”
The court hearing resumed Friday afternoon with Morrissey calling to the witness stand Seth Kenney, who had supplied “Rust” with ammo and guns, including the one used by Baldwin.
Baldwin’s attorneys have suggested Kenney was the one who supplied the live rounds — an assertion Kenney denied at trial, as he has all along.
The lead sheriff’s detective in the case, Alexandria Hancock, later testified that Teske had first shown up at the Santa Fe courthouse during Gutierrez’s trial. Hancock said Teske didn’t wait around, and instead took the bullets to the sheriff’s office.
She said she repeatedly reached out to Teske to get a witness statement. “I didn’t get a call back,” she said.
The judge sharply questioned Hancock, asking why she hadn’t gone to the sheriff’s office to view the bullets that Teske had brought. The judge also wanted to know who had made the decision to put the Teske bullets under a new case number.
Questions have long persisted about the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office’s investigation into the shooting.
The investigation took more than a year, and sheriff’s investigators never conclusively determined the source of the live ammunition on the “Rust” set — a fact that Baldwin’s team has made central to its case.
From the moment deputies arrived at Bonanza Creek Ranch, about 10 miles south of Santa Fe, they were overwhelmed. More than 100 members of the film crew were milling about, trying to make sense of the shooting.
The department was understaffed. Timoteo Benavidez, a retired sheriff’s lieutenant who was the on-scene commander, told the jury Wednesday that only seven deputies were patrolling the entire county that day.
The handful of officers who sped to the movie set after the 911 call encountered “people everywhere,” Benavidez said. He also had to calm Gutierrez, who was having what appeared to be a panic attack, his lapel camera video — which was played for the jury — showed.
Benavidez called New Mexico State Police, asking for reinforcements. But a state police commander refused. “I don’t remember if they said they didn’t have enough (officers) … or the supervisor just said ‘no,’” Benavidez testified.
___
©2024 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
