Alec Baldwin has informed a New Mexico state prosecutor and sheriff he may sue them after their botched attempt to prosecute him over a fatal movie set shooting. A New Mexico judge dismissed involuntary manslaughter charges against Baldwin on the third day of the trial on Friday. The judge agreed with Baldwin's lawyers that prosecutor Kari Morrissey and the sheriff's office concealed evidence about the source of the live round that killed Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in 2021.
Baldwin's lawyers sent letters to Morrissey and Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza dated Monday asking them to preserve documents for future litigation, according to copies of the letters seen by Reuters. The Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office confirmed it received the letter from Baldwin's legal team but declined further comment on Wednesday. Morrissey did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hutchins died when Baldwin pointed a gun at her as they set up a camera shot on the Rust movie set near Santa Fe. The gun fired a live round inadvertently loaded by the movie's chief weapons handler Hannah Gutierrez. Gutierrez was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in March.
Gutierrez, serving an 18-month prison sentence, on Tuesday filed a motion for dismissal of charges due to the failure of prosecutors to disclose evidence on the live rounds, testing of Baldwin's gun by firearms expert Lucien Haag and an interview with the movie's props supplier Seth Kenney. Erlinda Johnson resigned as Mo.
