By Andrew Hay
SANTA FE, New Mexico (Reuters) -A New Mexico judge dismissed involuntary manslaughter charges against Alec Baldwin on Friday after his lawyers alleged police and prosecutors hid evidence of the source of the live round that killed “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in 2021.
Three days after Baldwin’s trial began in New Mexico, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer ruled after hearing evidence, including from the prosecutor who called herself to the stand, on the defense request made earlier on Friday.
Baldwin hugged his wife Hilaria Baldwin, who had been in court throughout this week’s hearings, and his sister Elizabeth Keuchler was in tears after the judge’s ruling. Baldwin then left the courthouse without speaking to reporters.
The actor’s lawyers said the Santa Fe sheriff’s office took possession of live rounds as evidence in the case but failed to list them in the “Rust” investigation file or disclose their existence to defense lawyers.
They also alleged the rounds were evidence that the bullet that killed Hutchins came from Seth Kenney, the movie’s prop supplier. Kenney has denied supplying live ammunition to the production and has not been charged in the case. He had been expected to testify against Baldwin.
The Colt .45 rounds at the center of the dismissal were handed into the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office on March 6 by Troy Teske, a friend of Thell Reed, the stepfather of “Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez, on the same day Gutierrez was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for Hutchins’ death.
A Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office technician, Marissa Poppel, testified before the judge on Friday that the rounds were not hidden from Baldwin and she was told to file them and details on how they were obtained under a different case number to the “Rust” case. She disputed Spiro’s assertion the Colt .45 ammunition matched the round that killed Hutchins.
Prosecutors allege Baldwin played a role in the death of Hutchins because he handled the gun irresponsibly. His lawyers say Baldwin was failed by Gutierrez and others responsible for safety on the set, and that law enforcement agents were more interested in prosecuting their client than finding the source of a live round that killed Hutchins.
(Reporting By Andrew Hay; editing by Donna Bryson and Josie Kao)
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