Judge to consider request to dismiss Alec Baldwin shooting case over damage to evidence during testing

SANTA FE, New Mexico – A New Mexico judge plans to rule Friday on a request to dismiss the sole charge against Alec Baldwin in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer over concerns that the FBI damaged the firearm in the of forensic testing before defense attorneys can examine it.

Alec Baldwin's defense attorneys have asked Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer to dismiss the case against Baldwin ahead of what would be a high-profile trial beginning in July.

Baldwin's legal team requested that, if the trial continues, the judge at least bar the presentation of an analysis of the weapon using spare parts by a firearms expert for the prosecution . They say investigators may have destroyed potentially exculpatory evidence by testing whether the gun could discharge accidentally without the trigger being pulled.

During a rehearsal on the set on October 21, 2021, Baldwin was pointing the gun at Halyna Hutchins when the gun went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza, who survived.

Baldwin has pleaded not guilty to a charge of involuntary manslaughter, which carries a maximum sentence of 18 months in prison.

Sheriff's investigators initially sent the revolver to the FBI for routine testing, but when an FBI analyst heard Baldwin say in an ABC TV interview that he never pulled the trigger, the agency told local authorities they could conduct an accidental discharge test, even though it could damage the weapon.

A team of investigators asked the FBI to go ahead and test the revolver by hitting it from several angles with a rawhide mallet. One of these strikes shattered the weapon's firing and safety mechanisms.

“They understood that this was potentially exculpatory evidence and they destroyed it anyway,” Baldwin’s attorney, John Bash, said during a virtual court hearing Monday. “This is scandalous and must be rejected. »

Prosecutors said it was “unfortunate” that the gun broke, but it was not destroyed and the parts are still available. They said Baldwin's attorneys still have the opportunity to defend their client and challenge the evidence against him.

Baldwin's lawyers say authorities conducted destructive tests of the weapon without bothering to take it apart and photograph the parts first, eliminating their most critical evidence in the case. Noting damage to the revolver's upper hammer notch, they urged the judge to prohibit the jury from viewing a scan of the reconstructed gun.

Several hours of gun testimony and forensic analysis during online hearings provided a dress rehearsal for the eventual trial against Baldwin. Baldwin's lawyers conducted lengthy and thorough cross-examinations of the lead detective, an FBI forensic firearms investigator and the prosecution's independent firearms expert, Lucien Haag.

Special prosecutor Erlinda Ocampo Johnson told the court Monday that the defense has plenty of gun-related evidence to work with at trial.

She added that all available evidence, from witness testimony to video footage of Baldwin firing the gun, showed that the weapon was in working order on the day of the shooting and that police had no reason to believe its internal workings could provide exculpatory evidence.

Prosecutors plan to present evidence that they say shows the gun “could not have fired without pulling the trigger” and was functioning properly before the shooting.

Gunsmith Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was convicted in March of manslaughter for her role in the shooting and sentenced to a year and a half in prison.

As of 2021, filming on “Rust” resumed but took place in Montana under a deal with Hutchins' husband, Matthew Hutchins, that made him an executive producer. The finished film has not yet been released to the public.