Alec Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter case still has “unanswered questions” despite it being dismissed, according to showbiz reporter Stephanie Takyi.
A New Mexico judge said on Friday that prosecutors and police withheld evidence on the source of the live round that killed ‘Rust’ cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in 2021.
The multiple Emmy-award winning actor broke down in tears upon hearing the verdict as he hugged wife Hilaria Baldwin.
Speaking on GB News, Takyi said mysteries remain.
Alec Baldwin's case was dismissed
REUTERS
“All they had in this trial over the past three days was a dummy of the bullets and it wasn’t the same chemical and proposition of the normal bullets”, she said.
“There was no way they could carry on with this case as it was such a big factor. Baldwin and his team said this had been a trial with prejudice.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
“Hutchins’ family have been fighting for justice. She did die from a gunshot wound but Baldwin has always denied pulling the trigger.
“There is always going to be questions about how she died.”
The criminal prosecution concluded with Baldwin leaving the court with his family without talking to reporters.
"The state's withholding of the evidence was wilful and deliberate," Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer said in delivering her decision.
Stephanie Takyi joined Stephen Dixon and Anne Diamond on GB News
GB NEWS
"Dismissal with prejudice is warranted to ensure the integrity of the judicial system and the efficient administration of justice."
Hutchins died in Hollywood’s first on-set shooting in nearly 30 years when Baldwin was told to point a revolver at her as she set up a camera shot while filming southwest of Santa Fe.
The Colt .45 rounds at the centre of the dismissal were handed into the sheriff's office on March 6 by Troy Teske, a friend of Thell Reed, the stepfather of Gutierrez, on the same day she was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for Hutchins' death.
A sheriff's office crime scene technician, Marissa Poppel, testified on Thursday that the rounds did not match those collected on the set of Rust which were sent for FBI testing.
Stephanie Takyi says Baldwin's case has unanswered questiond
GB NEWS
But when defence lawyers inspected them they found some had brass casings with the “Starline Brass” logo and silver, nickel primers, just like the six live rounds found on the set of Rust. Others looked like inert dummy rounds taken into evidence on the set.
“That turned out to be completely false, didn’t it?” Baldwin's lawyer Spiro asked Corporal Hancock.
“You’re correct,” she said.
Judge Sommer asked Hancock who had decided to put Teske’s ammunition into a separate case file number.
Hancock said it was the decision of her supervisor, prosecutors and herself.
“Ms. Morrissey was part of that conversation?” asked Sommer, growing visibly angry.
“Yes,” replied Hancock.
