A lawyer representing the family of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins who suffered a fatal shooting during the filming of the movie “Rust” has stated that a civil trial is still ongoing against actor Alec Baldwin regarding the incident.
“Maybe a little premature for Alec Baldwin to be having his party. Maybe somebody should remind him the party’s not over,” Gloria allred told the media in Santa Fe on Saturday.
“This case will proceed, and it will continue and we will get a jury trial in this case, unless he decides to do the right thing before that and resolve it in a meaningful way,” she added.
Her statement comes as after a New Mexico judge on Friday brought a sudden and stunning end to the involuntary manslaughter case against Baldwin, dismissing it in the middle of the actor’s trial and saying it cannot be filed again.
Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed the case based on misconduct of police and prosecutors over the withholding of evidence from the defense in the 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film “Rust.”
The case-ending evidence, revealed during testimony Thursday, was ammunition that was brought into the sheriff’s office in March by a man who said it could be related to Hutchins’ killing.
Prosecutors said they deemed the ammo unrelated and unimportant, while Baldwin’s lawyers alleged they “buried” it and filed a motion to dismiss the case.
The judge’s decision ends the criminal culpability of the 66-year-old Baldwin after a nearly three-year saga that began when a revolver he was pointing at Hutchins during a rehearsal went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza.
Baldwin and other producers still face civil lawsuits from Hutchins’ parents and sister, and from crew members.
Hutchins’ widower and young son had agreed to settle their own lawsuit about a year after the shooting, with the widower becoming an executive producer on the then-unfinished film.
But that settlement was reportedly in jeopardy before the trial, and the lawyer who filed it, Brian Panish, now said in a statement that “we look forward to presenting all the evidence to a jury and holding Mr. Baldwin accountable for his actions in the senseless death of Halyna Hutchins.”