Surprising Twist In Alec Baldwin Trial As Judge Sends Jurors Home

The Alec Baldwin involuntary manslaughter case regarding the 2021 death of the cinematographer Halyna Hutchins took a surprising turn on Friday as the judge sent the jurors home for the weekend while weighing a new motion.

Baldwin Trial Takes Shocking Turn

Baldwin’s attorneys filed a surprise motion on Thursday night. This motion called for the case to be dismissed because the state failed to turn over a batch of bullets to them.

Things got dramatic in the Santa Fe, New Mexico courtroom on Friday morning as Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer wore a pair of blue gloves to open an envelope containing the bullets before spreading them on the table.

Prosecutor Kari Morrissey had claimed that they did not match the fatal round that killed Hutchins. However, it quickly became clear that at least some of them were Starline Brass rounds with silver primers. This matched them to the characteristics of the bullets found on the Rust set.

Related: Judge Makes Huge Ruling In Alec Baldwin Case

Judge Sends Jury Home

Judge Marlowe Sommer then sent the jury home for the weekend so that she could consider the defense’s motion. Baldwin’s lawyer Luke Nikas had argued that prosecutors not turning over this evidence was part of a broader pattern of disclosure violations by the state.

“This is over and over and over again,” Nikas said, adding that this “is not the first time. This is not the second time. It’s not the third time. It’s time for this case to be dismissed.”

Morrissey fired back by arguing that detectives had determined early on in this case that Teske’s bullets were not a match.

“This is a wild goose chase,” Morrissey said. “This has no evidentiary value whatsoever.”

Judge Marlowe Sommer then asked to see the bullets. She had Marissa Poppell, the crime scene technician, go through each one in court.

Some of the bullets were Colt rounds or Winchesters, but others clearly had the distinctive Starline Brass logo of two stars joined by a crescent. Poppell responded by saying that she could not be sure that the bullets were an exact match for the fatal bullet without analyzing them further.

Once the bullets were displayed, Morrissey admitted that she had never actually seen them before. However, she added that if they do match the fatal bullet, it would only confirm the prosecution’s theory that armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed brought the live bullets to set.

Watch this moment unfold in the video below.

Related: Alec Baldwin Trial Evidence: Multiple Live Rounds Found On Set

What This Means

If she doesn’t dismiss the case, the judge could also instruct jurors that they could infer that the state withheld the bullets because they knew it would help the defense’s case. The judge could also delay the case so that the defense can have the chance to examine the evidence.

Nikas, however, wasn’t having any of this. He argued that these solutions would not be appropriate because the trial has already started, which means that the defense has already made their strategy.

Baldwin pled not guilty to a felony charge of involuntary manslaughter in the October of 2021 death of Hutchins, 42. If convicted, he is facing up to 18 months in prison.