The judge in Alec Baldwin's Rust criminal trial denied a motion from the prosecution to revive the case.

On Sept. 6, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer responded after New Mexico special prosecutor Kari T. Morrissey's Aug. 30 request to reconsider the complete dismissal of the case against Baldwin, 66, that was made July 12.

In the ruling, Sommer noted that she was refusing to consider Morrissey's request because her recent motion exceeded a 10-page limit on briefs filed without obtaining permission to do so.

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The Baldwin case should be taught in law schools as an example of how not to conduct a criminal prosecution. Let me count the ways..

  • The state legislature appropriated money to be used to prosecute the case, and a member of the legislature was appointed as a special prosecutor in violation of New Mexico separation of powers rules. The special prosecutor had to resign.
  • The prosecutor charged Baldwin with several different gun-related crimes, including one that the legislature passed in response to this event. When Baldwin's attorneys pointed it out to the court, the prosecutor issued a public statement, instead of a court filing, about "celebrities with fancy attorneys." The charge had to be dismissed because, as everybody should have known, the U.S. Constitution prohibits ex post facto prosecutions.
  • The FBI destroyed the gun while testing it. Because of that destruction, Baldwin's experts never got a chance to inspect or test the gun in its condition at the time of ths shooting.
  • Reports that the gun had been altered from its original condition prior to being brought onto the set prompted the prosecutor to dismiss the charges.
  • The prosecutor later changed her mind and charged Baldwin a second time.
  • After the trial began and the jury had already begun listening to evidence, the judge dismissed the case, with prejudice, because of prosecutor misbehavior in failing to disclose relevant evidence to the defendant.
  • Now, in a filing in violation of a page-limit rule. the prosecutor asked the judge to reinstate the case. No doubt, the prosecutor will file a new motion that fits within the required page limits.


What about double jeopardy, another rule of the Constitution that everybody should know?

Even if the prosecution had been handled perfectly, it would still be a weak case. The central claim of the prosecution is that a movie star, who was supposed to pretend to shoot someone with a gun on a movie set, should have known that some of the bullets in the gun were real, even though a gun expert inspected it minutes before and told him it was safe. It's long past time to close the book on this case.