Alec Baldwin could file a civil rights lawsuit against the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office after a judge dismissed his manslaughter case over evidence withheld.
Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer found the state “substantially liable” for failing to disclose a stash of bullets to the defense. Baldwin could sue under New Mexico's Civil Rights Act, the state's Tort Claims Act, or the federal Civil Rights Act of 1871.
“This is clear and closed in my mind,” said Taylor Smith, an Albuquerque attorney who has sued police agencies across New Mexico. “I would like to take this case.”
Baldwin's attorney, Alex Spiro, sent letters to Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza and special prosecutor Cary Morrissey on Monday, advising them to preserve evidence in light of “the potential for future litigation based on your actions in connection with Mr. Baldwin's prosecution.”
Rolling Stone magazine was the first to report on the preservation letters on Wednesday.
Baldwin was on trial for shooting Rust cameraman Halina Hutchins.
In a dramatic twist Friday, the defense revealed that a sheriff's office crime scene investigator received a batch of bullets linked to the case on March 6 and then filed them with a new case number, keeping them out of the defense's reach.
According to one witness, two other sheriff's office employees and Morrissey were involved in the conversation about what to do with the evidence. Morrissey testified that she did not know the evidence would not be turned over.
Marlowe Sommer found that the state had violated the protections of Brady v. Maryland, which require the state to present exculpatory evidence to the defense, and dismissed the case “with prejudice,” meaning it could not be refiled.
Prosecutors are generally immune from lawsuits, although they may face disciplinary complaints. Police agencies can be sued for civil rights violations and negligent conduct.
“There are a number of different paths if they want to respond, and it wouldn’t surprise me if they pursued all of them,” said John Day, a Santa Fe attorney and legal commentator.
The judge's ruling would certainly be helpful for a civil case, but Baldwin's lawyers would still have to prove to a civil jury that the withheld evidence would have been important to his defense.
“You’re going to have to prove that the violation made a difference,” said Richard Rosenstock, a veteran civil rights attorney in Santa Fe. “The burden of proof is on you as the plaintiff.”
Baldwin must prove that the investigators’ conduct was negligent or reckless, or that his due process rights were denied. He must also prove damages, such as additional legal costs or harm to his career, resulting from the misconduct. Under New Mexico’s civil rights law, damages are capped at $2 million.
One possibility is that Baldwin went beyond the Brady violation that ended the case. In the months leading up to the dismissal, the defense repeatedly alleged that he had been subjected to “a mountain of misconduct.” The defense argued that Baldwin should never have been charged because he would not have suspected that his gun contained a live round.
Preservation letters, copies of which have been viewed by diverseThe documents do not set out the basis for potential lawsuits. But they do order Morrissey and Mendoza to preserve “all relevant information in your possession, custody or control,” including “hard drives, emails, text messages and other electronic communications.”
The sheriff's office confirmed it received the notice.
Morrissey said she learned last fall that Baldwin was planning to file a “frivolous lawsuit” against the state of New Mexico and former prosecutors in the Rust case, as a way to distract media attention from the plea deal. She withdrew the plea offer in October after learning that Baldwin was cooperating with a documentary about the case and was pressuring witnesses to participate.
