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Why was Alec Baldwin's criminal case dismissed?
A judge in New Mexico dismissed the case against Alec Baldwin on Friday after finding that the state had withheld evidence that could have shed light on how live rounds got onto a film set where the cinematographer was fatally shot.
null - When it came time to fight the involuntary manslaughter charge in the fatal "Rust" shooting, Alec Baldwin entrusted his freedom to a 41-year-old man with a roster of Hollywood clients: Alex Spiro.
Spiro, a Harvard Law School graduate who was recently named as one of The Hollywood Reporter's Top 100 Attorneys, knows about litigating high-profile cases as a partner at the high-end Quinn Emanuel firm in New York.
He became a talking point among social media sleuths for his fiery way with words in the courtroom and 6'4" disposition, but behind the man who was intent on keeping Baldwin out of prison is an already stacked list of court wins for A-list stars.
JUDGE DISMISSES ALEC BALDWIN'S INVOLUNTARY MANSLAUGHTER CASE IN STUNNING VICTORY FOR ACTOR
Spiro's represented Elon Musk a handful of times, including with his 2022 bid to end a $44 billion deal to buy Twitter amid whistleblower claims about security issues. Later that year, Spiro was appointed to oversee Twitter's legal, marketing, and trust and safety teams.
He defended Musk once again in 2023 in a securities fraud trial where Elon was found not liable for misleading investors who claimed a 2018 Musk tweet referencing "funding secured" was not related to his Tesla company.
FILE - Alex Spiro, attorney for actor Alec Baldwin, speaks during Baldwins involuntary manslaughter trial in First Judicial District Court on July 11, 2024 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. (Photo by Ramsay de Give-Pool/Getty Images)
Spiro initially fought for Musk in a 2019 defamation case filed by Vernon Unsworth related to the Tham Luang cave rescue. At the time, Musk had called Unsworth "sus" (suspicious) and a "pedo guy" on the social media platform. The lawsuit marked one of the first defamation suits brought by a private individual over a tweet to go to trial.
Alex was requested by Jay-Z and his Roc Nation banner to help rapper 21 Savage (full name She'yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph) who was arrested in Atlanta during a targeted immigration operation in 2019. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials claimed that Savage, a British citizen, had overstayed his visa in addition to having a felony conviction on his record.
FATAL TIMELINE IN ALEC BALDWIN ‘RUST’ SHOOTING THAT LED TO ACTORS INVOLUNTARY MANSLAUGHTER CHARGE
ICE claimed he entered the country legally as a minor, but failed to update his visa, a point his legal team successfully argued when Savage was released on bond nearly one week after his arrest.
Spiro also represented Jay-Z in a $67 million breach of contract lawsuit with a fragrance company. While the rapper countersued (and won) after a three-week trial, an appeals court later decided that Jay-Z was also owed $4.5 million in royalties he had yet to be paid by the company.
He was also part of the legal team that helped defend New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft against solicitation charges in 2019.
Megan Thee Stallion trusted Spiro for representation when rapper Tory Lanez was charged with the shooting Megan in the foot following a party at Kylie Jenner's home. A jury found Lanez, whose full name is Daystar Peterson, guilty of three felony charges, including assault with a semiautomatic firearm, having a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle, and discharging a firearm with gross negligence.
Spiro and Luke Nikas fought for Baldwin throughout the case, and earned an early legal win the day before a jury was selected for trial when Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer ruled that prosecutors couldn't introduce evidence of his status as a producer on the film "Rust."
Sommer granted the defense's request to bar the state from introducing testimony about how Baldwin's role as a producer of the Western film "Rust" allegedly allowed him to act recklessly and flout gun safety protocols.
Prosecutors have argued that as producer of the film and the most experienced member of the cast, he was ultimately responsible for reckless behavior on the set.
While important, the win was just a drop in the bucket compared to the victory earned Friday, July 12, when Sommer dismissed the case with prejudice after ruling that the prosecution concealed evidence from Baldwin's legal team.
"The state's willful withholding of this information was intentional and deliberate," Sommer said. "If this conduct does not rise to the level of bad faith, it certainly comes so near to bad faith as to show signs of scorching prejudice."
The judge added: "There is no way for the court to right this wrong."
Sommer sent the jury home in order to continue the special motions hearing concerning live rounds that were handed over to law enforcement after the conclusion of "Rust" armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed's trial.
Baldwin's lawyers claimed the prosecution concealed the live rounds from the defense by labeling the evidence under a different case number. Spiro also noted that the rounds were not sent to the FBI for analysis despite possibly matching rounds in prop distributor Seth Kenney's possession.
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