Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) - Alec Baldwin's trial for involuntary manslaughter was paused Friday as his lawyers claimed police "buried" evidence about the fatal shooting on the set of the Western film "Rust," and called for the case's dismissal.
Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer, presiding over the trial in Santa Fe, New Mexico, sent jurors home until Monday as she weighed the defense's request, which was described by prosecutors as irrelevant.
Hollywood A-lister Baldwin was holding a gun in the direction of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal in October 2021 when the weapon fired, killing Hutchins and wounding the film's director.
The movie's armorer Hannah Gutierrez, who loaded the fatal weapon, is already serving 18 months in prison for involuntary manslaughter.
Baldwin is now facing the same charges. Prosecutors claim he ignored basic gun safety laws and acted recklessly on set.
Baldwin's celebrity lawyer Alex Spiro has argued the actor had no responsibility for checking the weapon's deadly contents.
But the defense's case has also rested heavily on discrediting the police investigation.
And Spiro on Thursday introduced evidence that live bullets potentially linked to the shooting had been handed to police, but not disclosed to Baldwin's lawyers.
The bullets were handed into police by a "Good Samaritan" earlier this year, more than two years after the "Rust" tragedy.
The "Good Samaritan" was a former police officer and a family friend of Gutierrez, the armorer. He told police the bullets matched the rounds that killed Hutchins.
Spiro accused police of having "buried" evidence by not filing it under the "Rust" case, depriving the defense of a chance to see it.
"Which was a perfect plan," he told the court.
Crime scene technician Marissa Poppell, under questioning from Spiro, said she had catalogued the bullets, but had been told not to file them under the "Rust" case.
Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey scrambled to respond, telling the court she had never seen or heard of the bullets before this week.
But she insisted they were not relevant to Baldwin's case, since it is the actor's behavior on set while handling weapons that is at stake.
And Poppell told the court that in any case, the bullets did not match the live ammunition that killed Hutchins.
Sommer is expected to hear further evidence on Friday, in the absence of the jury, before deciding if the case will proceed.
Hutchins was originally from Ukraine, and grew up on a Soviet military base in the Arctic Circle.
She moved to the United States, and her career as a Hollywood cinematographer was thriving when she was killed at the age of 42.
Baldwin, 66, could face up to 18 months in prison if found guilty.
