The involuntary manslaughter case against Alec Baldwin appears to be over for good after the special prosecutor in the Rust case withdrew her notice of appeal against the criminal case’s dismissal.
Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey filed the notice of appeal in late November, but withdrew it on Monday (December 23) after the New Mexico Attorney General’s office said it “did not intend to exhaustively pursue the appeal,” according to a statement.
In a surprise turn of events in July, the New Mexico judge hearing the case dismissed it, ruling that prosecutors hid rounds of bullets that may have been linked to the death of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
The statement from the New Mexico Attorney General’s office said it, “strongly disagrees with the decision of the court to dismiss the case against Mr Baldwin and maintains that the evidence submitted to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s office by Troy Teske was not material to the prosecution of Baldwin and was known to the defense prior to trial.”
The statement added, however, that the office’s “efforts to continue to litigate the case in a fair and comprehensive manner have been met with multiple barriers that have compromised its ability to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law.”
Morrissey was quoted in the statement saying, “This has always been about seeking justice for Halyna Hutchins. We regret that Mr Baldwin will not be held accountable for the role he played in the death of Halyna Hutchins and as we withdraw the appeal, we do so with the hope that the outstanding lawsuits bring some measure of justice to the family of Halyna Hutchins.” (There are still civil suits over the case pending in California and New Mexico.)
Baldwin’s attorneys Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro were quoted in the Sante Fe New Mexican saying in a statement of their own that, “Today’s decision to dismiss the appeal is the final vindication of what Alec Baldwin and his attorneys have said from the beginning – this was an unspeakable tragedy but Alec Baldwin committed no crime. The rule of law remains intact in New Mexico.”
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