Actor Alec Baldwin has sued the New Mexico prosecutors who tried to imprison him for the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of his film, Rust.
The civil lawsuit for malicious prosecution and civil rights violations was filed Thursday at the state district court in Santa Fe, where a judge dismissed his charge of involuntary manslaughter.
He alleges defamation, and claims prosecutors and investigators intentionally mishandled evidence during their investigation into the shooting.
‘Defendants, while acting under the color of law, conspired to procure a groundless indictment against Baldwin and to maliciously bring about or advance Baldwin’s trial and conviction, thus violating Baldwin’s constitutional rights by their improper use of the criminal process,’ the suit claims, according to The Wrap.
‘Defendants sought at every turn to scapegoat Baldwin for the acts and omissions of others, regardless of the evidence or the law.’
The lawsuit names Special Prosecutor Kari Morrissey, Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies and investigators from the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office as defendants.
It comes just weeks after the district attorney’s office announced it would not pursue an appeal of a court’s decision to dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against the Oscar-nominated actor, 66.
Actor Alec Baldwin has sued the New Mexico prosecutors who tried to imprison him
It comes just weeks after the district attorney’s office announced it would not pursue an appeal of a court’s decision to dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against the Oscar-nominated actor, 66. Pictured: Kari Morrissey
Morrissey withdrew her appeal in December of a decision to dismiss the charge against Baldwin in Hutchins’ death. She died during a rehearsal on set of Rust.
‘Today’s decision to dismiss the appeal is the final vindication of what Alec Baldwin and his attorneys have said from the beginning – this was an unspeakable tragedy but Alec Baldwin committed no crime,’ Baldwin’s defense attorneys Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro said at the time.
‘The rule of law remains intact in New Mexico.’
The decision to drop the appeal solidified the decision by Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer halfway through trial to dismiss the case on allegations that police and prosecutors withheld evidence from the defense.
Prosecutors had said they deemed ammunition that was brought into the Santa Fe County sheriff’s office in March unrelated and unimportant to the case, but Baldwin’s defense team claimed in court that investigators ‘buried’ the evidence.
Judge Sommer said at the time that the dismissal was ‘the only warranted remedy’ amid the legal issues and that there was ‘no way for the court to right this wrong.’
‘The late discovery of this evidence has impacted the fundamental fairness of the proceedings,’ the judge said, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, tragically died on the set of movie in October of 2021
The tragic incident occurred on set at the Bonanza Creek Ranch in Santa Fe, New Mexico
The district attorney’s office said that under state law the New Mexico attorney general would have carried forward the appeal but ‘did not intend to exhaustively pursue the appeal on behalf of the prosecution.’
‘As a result, the State’s efforts to continue to litigate the case in a fair and comprehensive manner have been met with multiple barriers that have compromised its ability to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law,’ local prosecutors said.
Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer for Rust, was pointing a gun at Hutchins during a rehearsal on set when the revolver went off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.
Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer – but not the trigger – and the revolver fired.
After the case was thrown out, Baldwin regained some of his positions in Hollywood.
‘I do believe that by the communications I’ve had lately, that things are coming back my way to work, and I’m happy for that because I’ve got seven kids,’ he said in a candid conversation on David Duchovny’s podcast, Fail Better from Lemonada Media.
Alec Baldwin is pictured hugging his attorney Alex Spiro at the conclusion of his trial for involuntary manslaughter
The district attorney’s office said that under state law the New Mexico attorney general would have carried forward the appeal but ‘did not intend to exhaustively pursue the appeal on behalf of the prosecution’ Pictured: Kari Morrissey
‘But I’ve also enjoyed the fact that there’s so much of this case that is not known, because we didn’t have a full trial. The judge canceled the case. She ruled that it was dismissed with prejudice, which I’m very grateful for because it was, I think, a very, very informed decision on her part,’ he said.
‘But if I’d gone all the way and gotten a verdict, that’s a little bit better because a bunch of people in a jury had considered the facts and we would’ve presented so much more. All that doesn’t get presented because the case is over.’
A judge, however, had previously sentenced movie weapons supervisor Hannah Gutierrez-Reed to the maximum of one-and-a-half years at a state penitentiary on an involuntary manslaughter conviction in Hutchins’ death.
Prosecutors blamed Gutierrez-Reed for unwittingly bringing live ammunition onto the set of Rust, where it was expressly prohibited, and for failing to follow basic gun safety protocols.
Meanwhile, assistant director and safety coordinator David Halls pleaded no contest to the negligent use of a deadly weapon and was sentenced to six months of unsupervised probation. A no contest plea isn’t an admission of guilt but is treated as such for sentencing purposes.
Several civil lawsuits have also been brought against Baldwin and Rust producers, including a complaint by Hutchins’ parents and sister.
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