Judge in Alec Baldwin's “Rust” Trial Denies Prosecutor's Request to Revive Manslaughter Case
Prosecutor Kari T. Morrissey had filed a request for Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer to reconsider the dismissal of Alec Baldwin's case
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Alec Baldwin on July 11, 2024The judge in Alec Baldwin's Rust criminal trial denied a motion from the prosecution to revive the case.
On Sept. 6, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer responded after New Mexico special prosecutor Kari T. Morrissey's Aug. 30 request to reconsider the complete dismissal of the case against Baldwin, 66, that was made July 12.
In the ruling, Sommer noted that she was refusing to consider Morrissey's request because her recent motion exceeded a 10-page limit on briefs filed without obtaining permission to do so.
The ruling said Morrissey's Aug. 30 filing contained a 52-page motion and an additional 387 pages of exhibits as part of the prosecution's argument and cautioned the prosecutor "to comply in the future with our rules of appellate procedure," adding that "briefs that exceed the page limits, even when this Court has approved the additional pages, are almost invariably unpersuasive."
When reached by PEOPLE, Morrissey said in a statement, "The 10-page motion has already been filed. I cannot comment beyond that."
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Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer (L) and Kari Morrissey on July 10, 2024Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Baldwin was indicted by a grand jury in January on a charge of involuntary manslaughter in the Oct. 21, 2021 incident on the set of Rust, when the prop gun he was holding discharged, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza. Baldwin has maintained he did not pull the trigger of the gun or know why it contained live ammunition.
On July 12, before the jury was brought back into the courtroom, Baldwin's attorney Luke Nikas claimed a man named Troy Teske — a friend of Thell Reed, the father of convicted Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter — had turned over ammunition to authorities he thought was connected to the case.
Morrissey called herself to the stand just before Sommer dismissed the case entirely and explained that she did not believe the ammunition handed over was considered Rust evidence.
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Alec Baldwin on July 8, 2024In Morrissey's Aug. 30 filing, she argued "there were insufficient facts to support the Court's ruling and there was no violation of the Defendant's due process rights," claiming that Baldwin and his defense team were aware of the existence of the evidence.
"The Court finds that the State's Motion for Extension of Page Limits to State's Motion to Reconsider Dismissal with Prejudice is not well-taken, and should be denied," Sommer wrote in the Sept. 6 order.
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