Alec Baldwin's manslaughter case won't be reopened, judge rules

Alec Baldwin’s Rust criminal trial is still dismissed, despite Special Prosecutor Kari Morrissey’s best efforts. Or at least they were efforts. According to Deadline, Judge Mary Marlow Sommer upheld her initial ruling. “Considering the arguments of the State set forth in the Amended Motion and Reply, the Court. concludes that the State does not raise any factual or legal arguments that would Justify the grant of a motion to reconsider,” she wrote in her decision. “Therefore, the Amended Motion is not well taken and should be denied.”

In July, Judge Sommer dismissed the criminal case against Baldwin when it was revealed that the Santa Fe district attorney’s and sheriff’s offices had mislabeled ammunition and (intentionally or not) concealed evidence from Baldwin’s defense team. The case was specifically dismissed with prejudice, meaning Baldwin can’t be retried on those charges, but for some reason, the Santa Fe D.A. is simply bound and determined to prosecute Baldwin for this, so Morrissey filed to have the decision overturned. Unfortunately, Judge Sommer ruled that Morrissey’s amended motion didn’t bring anything new to the case and that it was also “filed outside the time limit for the State to initiate its appeal.” And so the case is dead again… except that a source tells Deadline Morrissey plans to appeal. Again. 

The case to find Baldwin criminally liable for the shooting death of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins just seemed to be bungled from the very beginning. A leaked email (“leaked” here means “accidentally sent to the defense’s email”) from an investigator for the D.A. stated that “The conduct of the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office during and after their initial investigation is reprehensible and unprofessional to a degree I still have no words for. Not I or 200 more proficient investigators than I can/could clean up the mess delivered to your office in October 2022 (1 year since the initial incident…inexcusable).” Charges against Baldwin were filed, then dropped, then filed again. The case continued to be a “mess” right up until the very end, when one of Morrissey’s colleagues quit in the middle of the day and then Morrissey put herself on the stand to attempt an explanation for the mislabeled ammunition. 

In a bizarre moment in a case full of them, Morrissey admitted on the stand she was actually a fan of Baldwin’s work and particularly “the acting he did on Saturday Night Live.” Though her case may have flopped, she can at least console herself that Baldwin is back at work and making appearances on SNL again. Silver linings!