Alec Baldwin has filed a civil lawsuit against New Mexico prosecutors and law enforcement officials, accusing them of “malicious prosecution” in their involuntary manslaughter case following the death of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
The actor’s suit alleges that prosecutors in the case violated his constitutional rights through “improper use of the criminal process.” This includes failing to disclose evidence to the defense on several occasions. It also accuses them of using the case to promote their “personal agendas or professional ambitions” and attempting to “manufacture” a case against Baldwin, noting that the prosecutors were “blinded by their desire to convict Alec Baldwin for all the wrong reasons, and at any cost.”
Baldwin was tried for involuntary manslaughter in Santa Fe, New Mexico, last summer. The judge, Mary Marlowe Sommer, dismissed the case after finding that the state had withheld evidence from the defense. Baldwin’s lawsuit was filed against special prosecutor Kari Morrissey and Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies, as well as the 1st Judicial District Attorney’s Office, the Santa Fe County Board of Commissioners, and investigators from the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office.
“Defendants sought at every turn to scapegoat Baldwin for the acts and omissions of others, regardless of the evidence or the law,” the lawsuit reads. “Most notably, it included certain Defendants’ intentional concealment of exculpatory evidence and then lying from the witness stand during trial about their coverup.”
The suit asserts, “Defendants must now be held accountable for their malicious and unlawful pursuit of Baldwin. Although no verdict in this civil case can undo the trauma the state’s threat of conviction and incarceration has inflicted, Alec Baldwin has filed this action to hold defendants responsible for their appalling violations of the laws that governed their work.”
Baldwin is seeking punitive damages “to the fullest extent permitted by law” because the defendants “were motivated by evil motive or intent and involved a reckless or callous indifference to Baldwin’s constitutionally protected rights.” In addition, the actor has demanded a trial by jury. He has also asked for “general and/or compensatory damages in an amount to be determined at trial for all injuries suffered” and attorney’s fees and related suit costs.
“Criminal prosecutions are supposed to be about the search for truth and justice, not to pursue personal or political gain or harass the innocent,” Baldwin’s lawyers Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro said a statement to Entertainment Weekly. “Kari Morrissey and the other defendants violated that basic principle, over and over, and trampled on Alec Baldwin’s rights. We bring this action to hold the defendants accountable for their misconduct and to prevent them from doing this to anyone else.”
Morrissey responded to the lawsuit in a statement to The New York Times, saying, “In October 2023 the prosecution team became aware that Mr. Baldwin intended to file a retaliatory civil lawsuit. We look forward to our day in court.”
Hutchins died on the set of Rust on Oct. 21, 2021 after a prop revolver went off while Baldwin, the film’s star and producer, was positioning it for a scene. The gun fired a live bullet, which killed Hutchins and wounded the film’s director, Joel Souza. The actor has denied any responsibility for the death. Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, tthe armorer who loaded the live ammunition into the gun, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter. She is currently serving an 18-month prison sentence.
While Baldwin’s manslaughter case was officially declared over in December, Hutchins’ mother, father, and sister are continuing to pursue a civil case against the actor and the film’s producers in state court in New Mexico. In November, her mother Olga Solovey denounced Baldwin ahead of the Rust premiere in Poland. Solovey said the actor refused to apologize for the accidental shooting death of her daughter and accused him of seeking to “unjustly profit” from the tragedy.
“It was always my hope to meet my daughter in Poland to watch her work come alive on screen,” Solovey said in a statement on Tuesday. “Unfortunately, that was ripped away from me when Alec Baldwin discharged his gun and killed my daughter. Alec Baldwin continues to increase my pain with his refusal to apologize to me and his refusal to take responsibility for her death. Instead, he seeks to unjustly profit from his killing of my daughter. That is the reason why I refuse to attend the festival for the promotion of Rust, especially now when there is still no justice for my daughter.”