Alec Baldwin's 'Rust' criminal trial was a 'comedy of errors,' legal expert says
Legal experts gave insight into what went right, and wrong, in Alec Baldwin's involuntary manslaughter trial which ended Friday, July 12 after judge's shocking case dismissal
Alec Baldwin's involuntary manslaughter trial in the fatal shooting of "Rust" cinematographer Halyna Hutchins took a shocking turn Friday when Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed the case.
Jurors were recessed for the weekend before a special hearing began after the lunch hour, where not only did special prosecutor Kari Morrissey voluntarily take the stand as a witness in a move rarely seen in court, but Sommer then ruled shortly after that the prosecution did in fact conceal evidence from Baldwin's legal team.
"It's very rare for council to be taking the stand as a witness in cases, and so ultimately, that was her undoing," celebrity attorney Christopher C. Melcher, partner at Walzer Melcher & Yoda, exclusively told Fox News Digital.
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"Every prosecution and every police investigation is going to have errors to it, and that's the job of the defense is to point those things out, but there were a comedy of errors here. I mean, from testing the gun to the point of damaging it … emails that were being produced at the last minute, and then we have the ammunition being received under a different case number, which is just really unbelievable that they would do that."
Melcher added, "So, even though this was not a decision on the merits, it doesn't reflect on whether you're innocent on these charges, it reflects so poorly on the state's ability to conduct an investigation and put on a prosecution. Complete embarrassment and waste of time of New Mexico taxpayer money."
The "30 Rock" star cupped his face in his hands and wept as Judge Sommer dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning the charge cannot be brought against the actor again.
"The state's willful withholding of this information was intentional and deliberate," Sommer said. "If this conduct does not rise to the level of bad faith, it certainly comes so near to bad faith as to show signs of scorching prejudice."
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The judge added: "There is no way for the court to right this wrong."
Defense attorney Luke Nikas accused the state of withholding evidence that prop distributor Seth Kenney was the source of the live ammunition that fatally killed Hutchins.
After Sommer sent the jury home, Morrissey called herself as a witness and attempted to explain that she never thought the evidence was exculpatory because the ammunition never left the state of Arizona before the "Rust" shooting.
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Heidi Reavis, litigator and managing partner at Reavis Page Jump LLP, said that the "Rust" case will be studied for years to come.
"The myriad errors during the ‘Rust’ investigation and trial will be material for years to come – and I mean for law books, law school classes, law enforcement training, and defense/prosecution orientation, on how cases are botched through unforced errors," Reavis said.
"This case never should have been brought to trial and clearly the prosecution felt it had to cheat to get the result it wanted," former federal prosecutor Duncan Levin told Fox News Digital. "What a disgrace. Prosecutors can never cheat. Their job is to do justice, not get convictions at all costs. This is the worst of our system on display."
Eric Anderson, former prosecutor and current counsel at Early Sullivan Wright & Gizer & McRae LLP, said Morrissey "failed to show discipline as a witness, something every trial lawyer knows a witness should have."
He added, "It's a classic case of needing to know when to cut your losses. The defense stated they had no need for her to testify. The judge made clear she would not require Morrissey to testify, and yet she did.
"Her testimony clearly showed that the prosecution team decided, on their own, that there was no relevance to the Gutierrez Reed case, and they saw no need to disclose it to the Baldwin team and had shoddily filed the evidence in a different case number."
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Neama Rahmani, president of West Coast Trial Lawyers, told Fox News Digital that Morrisey's "only chance" was to convince judge Sommer that the exculpatory evidence was inadvertently withheld, not willfully.
"If it was inadvertent, Sommer would still have sanctioned the prosecution, but likely would not have dismissed the case," he said. "She may have given the jurors an adverse jury instruction saying the prosecution failed to comply with its obligations. But when Sommer found the constitutional violation was willful, she had no choice but to issue the ultimate sanction: complete dismissal of the case."
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He added, "It was stunning to see the prosecution fall apart so quickly. One of the special prosecutors bolted (Erlinda Johnson) before the judge could even make her decision. It’s one of the most botched prosecutions in American history; it should be taught in school as an example of how not to bring a case.
"From the word go, authorities in New Mexico were beset with problems of their own making. The District Attorney previously filed an unconstitutional enhancement charging Baldwin and Gutierrez Reed with a five-year minimum mandatory sentence, and appointed a special prosecutor who was a member of the state legislature, which is a separation of powers violation.
"This third and most significant constitutional violation merits the ultimate sanction – complete dismissal of the case. Prosecutors withheld potential exculpatory evidence from the defense. That is a constitutional violation under the Supreme Court’s seminal decision in United States v. Brady, and the cardinal sin for a prosecutor."
When it comes to "Rust" armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed who was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in March and is currently serving her 18-month prison sentence, Rahmani, like many legal experts, agreed that her conviction will now "likely be reversed."
"In fact, the discovery violation is worse as to her because the evidence shows that Kenney and PDQ Props may have provided the live rounds and not Gutierrez Reed," Rahmani said.
Baldwin was facing up to 18 months in prison if convicted of involuntary manslaughter charges. It's unclear when and if "Rust" armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed's legal team will petition for a reversal of her conviction.