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Six months after being cleared of criminal charges in the “Rust” shooting death, actor Alec Baldwin has filed a suit alleging malicious prosecution and defamation by New Mexico prosecutors and law enforcement.
The 73-page civil complaint, filed Thursday in Santa Fe, N.M., names special prosecutor Kari T. Morrissey, 1st Judicial Dist. Atty. Mary Carmack-Altwies, Santa Fe County sheriff’s deputies and the Santa Fe County commission. It contends that county officials went out of their way to defame Baldwin and their pursuit of criminal charges deprived the actor-producer of his civil rights.
The defendants were “blinded by their desire to convict Alec Baldwin for all the wrong reasons, and at any cost,” the lawsuit alleges. “Defendants sought at every turn to scapegoat Baldwin for the acts and omissions of others, regardless of the evidence or the law.”
Baldwin is seeking an undetermined amount of damages, including punitive damages, according to the suit.
“As a direct and proximate result of the defendants’ unreasonable and unlawful actions, Baldwin has suffered and continues to suffer substantial past and future damages… including … legal expenses, loss of income, severe emotional distress, mental anguish, and embarrassment,” the lawsuit said.
The involuntary manslaughter case against Baldwin was dismissed by a judge in July on what what was supposed to be the third day of the actor’s trial. Instead, defense attorneys raised new questions over how New Mexico law enforcement officers and prosecutors handled evidence and grilled those seeking to prosecute Baldwin for the October 2021 death of Halyna Hutchins.
The decision ended a nearly three-year ordeal for the “30 Rock” and “Hunt for Red October” star after the on-set tragedy, when Baldwin accidentally shot Hutchins, the cinematographer on the low-budget western, during a preliminary run-through of a scene.
Baldwin’s attorneys accused the state of misconduct, pointing to a batch of unexamined bullets that a potential witness turned over to sheriff’s investigators last March. New Mexico 1st Judicial District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer appeared furious over the handling of the evidence, which was not given to the defense, and dismissed the single charge against Baldwin.
“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 attorneys Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro said in a statement. “Kari Morrissey and the other defendants violated that basic principle, over and over, and trampled on Alec Baldwin’s rights.”
The lawsuit said despite Sommer’s dismissal of the case and her harsh criticism of the conduct of the local prosecutor and sheriff’s deputies, “this action is necessary to vindicate Baldwin’s rights and deter Defendants from attempt to do this to anyone else.”
“In October 2023 the prosecution team became aware that Mr. Baldwin intended to file a retaliatory civil lawsuit,” Morrissey said in a statement. “We look forward to our day in court.”
The original armorer in the film, Hannah Gutierrez, was convicted by a jury in March for involuntary manslaughter in Hutchins’ death.