Alec Baldwin files lawsuit against Santa Fe prosecutor and sheriff after Rust disaster

Actor Alec Baldwin attends his involuntary manslaughter trial for the 2021 fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins while filming the western “Rust,” Friday, July 12, 2024, in Santa Fe County Superior Court in Santa Fe, New Mexico. (Ramsay de Give/Pool Photo via AP)

Alec Baldwin and his lawyers are wasting no time after a judge dismissed manslaughter charges against the actor last week after evidence was uncovered during the trial that was allegedly hidden by law enforcement in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

According to Rolling Stone, Baldwin’s lawyers have sent notices to Santa Fe prosecutors and the sheriff’s office warning them of “future litigation” over their actions in the Rust shooting trial.

In a pair of “protective notices” sent Monday and obtained by Rolling Stone, Baldwin’s lawyers directed Santa Fe Prosecutor Kari Morrissey and Sheriff Adan Mendoza to “preserve all relevant information in their possession, custody, and/or control” related to the case against Baldwin.

“Specifically, we request that you immediately take all necessary steps, including preserving all devices, hard drives, emails, text messages, and other electronic communications, to preserve all documents, records, electronically stored information (“ESI”), and other materials and data existing in any form that are actually or potentially relevant to or in any way relate to the state’s investigation(s) and/or prosecution(s) relating to the death of Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust,” the preservation notices stated, according to Rolling Stone.

Baldwin was in his third day of trial last Friday for the October 2021 shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the low-budget western “Rust.” New evidence emerged during testimony that could address how live ammunition ended up on the “Rust” set and in the gun Baldwin was holding when Hutchins was killed.

Baldwin’s defense team filed an emergency motion, arguing that prosecutors and investigators deliberately withheld evidence — a batch of live .45-caliber ammunition. The ammunition belonged to veteran Hollywood gunsmith Thell Reed, the father of aspiring gunsmith “Rust” Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who loaded Baldwin’s guns. A friend of Thell Reed’s had turned the ammunition over to the Santa Fe sheriff’s office in March, but investigators inexplicably inventoried the ammunition under a case number that was different from the “Rust” case file. The defense argued that prosecutors never told them about the ammunition and never provided an additional report on it, a failure they said prevented them from conducting their own analysis of the bullets.

Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer agreed that prosecutors had “unilaterally withheld” evidence in violation of disclosure rules. She found that the evidence was both “material” and “favorable” to Baldwin’s defense, prompting her to dismiss the single charge of involuntary manslaughter with prejudice, meaning prosecutors cannot refile the charge against the actor.

“The court has no way of correcting this error,” Marlowe Sommer said.

Although the judge’s ruling means Baldwin is free from further criminal proceedings related to the “Rust” shooting, he is still embroiled in two wrongful death lawsuits filed by Halyna Hutchins’ husband and her family in Ukraine. If Baldwin files his own lawsuit, he will have to deal with more civil disputes. However, the famously combative actor is known for not backing down when he feels he has been wronged.