‘Rust’ shooting: Alec Baldwin faces retrial threat

Hollywood actor Alec Baldwin faces a retrial in “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins’s death after prosecutors appealed to reconsider the dismissal of the manslaughter case.

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Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey has filed an appeal to reconsider the case against the actor as she accused his legal team of employing trickery to peruse the court into dropping charges against him, US media outlets reported.

The manslaughter case against the “30 Rock” star was dropped last month by State District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer over allegations of prejudice.

In her motion, Morrissey maintained that there was no “cover-up” of key evidence by the prosecution while claiming that Alec Baldwin’s lawyers engaged in legal deception.

“This is a smoke screen created by the defence and was intended to sway and confuse the court … and it was successful,” Morrissey said in the motion.

The 52-page document alleged that the ‘Rust’ actor’s defence knew about the live ammunition despite claiming they did not.

The case pertains to an incident in October 2021 when Alec Baldwin accidentally fired a prop gun that had a live bullet, resulting in the killing of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and seriously injuring director Joel Souza.

Hutchins died in Hollywood’s first on-set shooting, of ‘Rust’, in nearly 30 years.

The weapon fired a .45 caliber round inadvertently loaded by the movie’s armorer Hannah Gutierrez.

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.

Following the shooting, first assistant director Dave Halls agreed to a plea bargain for a misdemeanour charge of the negligent use of a deadly weapon while armourer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was sentenced to 18 months in prison.