Alec Baldwin alleges malicious prosecution in new Rust lawsuit

Alec Baldwin is making good on his vow “to raise and to expose what really happened” in the fatal Rust set shooting. Last month, the criminal case against the actor in conjunction with the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was officially put to bed. Now, Baldwin has filed a lawsuit against Santa Fe, New Mexico District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies, special prosecutor Kari Morrissey, and investigators alleging that he was wrongfully prosecuted for manslaughter, per Variety.  

According to the outlet, the lawsuit states, “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.”

In July, the judge in the manslaughter case dismissed the case against Baldwin with prejudice after ruling that prosecutors and investigators mishandled evidence. Specifically, a cache of bullets with possible relevance to the case had been turned over to the sheriff’s office, but were not filed with the rest of the Rust evidence; Baldwin’s legal team didn’t have access to the bullets (some of which did match the live rounds from the Rust set), and weren’t even made aware of their existence. So, yeah, his lawsuit accuses the prosecution of withholding exculpatory evidence as well as eliciting false testimony, among other things. 

“Criminal prosecutions are supposed to be about the search for truth and justice, not to pursue personal or political gain or harass the innocent,” Baldwin’s lawyers, Alex Spiro and Luke Nikas, said in a statement. “Kari Morrissey and the other defendants violated that basic principle, over and over, and trampled on Alec Baldwin’s rights. We bring this action to hold the defendants accountable for their misconduct and to prevent them from doing this to anyone else.”

Morrissey initially appealed the judge’s ruling and would’ve kept on doing so, except the New Mexico Attorney General’s office declined to help her keep pushing that boulder up the hill. (“Perhaps if the District Attorney had selected someone with more direct experience as a prosecutor this outcome could have been avoided,” the attorney general’s spokesperson said in a merciless statement last month.) Now she’ll get her wish of facing Baldwin again, though under very different circumstances. “In October 2023 the prosecution team became aware that Mr. Baldwin intended to file a retaliatory civil lawsuit,” Morrissey said in her own statement. “We look forward to our day in court.”