Alec Baldwin files complaint against New Mexico officials, claiming wrongful prosecution in ‘Rust’ case
By Alli Rosenbloom, CNN
(CNN) — Alec Baldwin has filed a civil rights complaint against officials in Santa Fe, New Mexico, claiming he was wrongfully prosecuted in the “Rust” case, a representative for Baldwin told CNN.
Baldwin filed the complaint on Thursday against special prosecutor Kari .T Morrissey, District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies, among other officials, accusing them of violating his rights, malicious abuse of process and defamation.
In July, the involuntary manslaughter case against Baldwin – who authorities said held the prop gun that fired the shot that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of “Rust” in October 2021 – was dismissed after the judge overseeing the case ruled prosecutors did not properly turn over evidence to the defense.
According to a copy of the complaint, Baldwin claims that “for the better part of the last three years” prosecutors were “blinded by their desire to convict” him for “all the wrong reasons, and at any cost.”
“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,” Morrissey told CNN in a statement on Thursday.
Carmack-Altwies were not immediately available for comment.
The complaint states the defendants attempted to “scapegoat” Baldwin for the “acts and omissions of others, regardless of the evidence or the law,” and that evidence was “manipulated” or “concealed” to further their case.
“Although no verdict in this civil case can undo the trauma the State’s threat of conviction and incarceration has inflicted,” the complaint reads, Baldwin seeks to hold the defendants responsible for their “appalling violations of the laws that governed their work.”
“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 attorneys Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro told CNN in a statement Thursday. “We bring this action to hold the defendants accountable for their misconduct and to prevent them from doing this to anyone else.”
Movie armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed, who was responsible for firearm safety and storage during production of the movie, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Hutchins’ death last March. She was sentenced to 18 months in prison and her case is under appeal.
The-CNN-Wire
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