Alec Baldwin Plans to Sue Santa Fe Prosecutor, Sheriff Over 'Rust' Case | TMZ Live
Alec Baldwin is not done with New Mexico's legal system -- it looks like he's planning to legally go after the Santa Fe County Sheriff and the prosecutor in his "Rust" shooting case.
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00:00Real shocking news from Alec Baldwin, at least I find it shocking, that he is strongly considering
00:06legal action against the prosecutors there in Santa Fe County after his case was dismissed.
00:14And also, he's considering going after the Santa Fe Sheriff, the Sheriff's Department
00:18for their investigation.
00:19Now, you know that the reason that the case was dismissed was because of the misconduct
00:26of the evidence that the Santa Fe Sheriff's Department collected, and then how it was
00:31filed at the behest of the special prosecutors.
00:34They hid it from Alec Baldwin's defense team by saying, take this live ammo that was found,
00:40let's not put it in the rust file, which would be available to the defense, let's just put
00:44it in a different file.
00:46And the defense didn't know anything about it until at some point, right before the dismissal,
00:52apparently they found out.
00:53And when the judge looked in that envelope and saw this, it was a-
00:58Very dramatic, by the way, opening the envelope, with the gloves and the whole thing, you're
01:02like, ah.
01:03I mean, that is a Perry Mason moment.
01:04So now, Baldwin is saying, essentially, I believe what he's talking about is filing
01:10a malicious prosecution lawsuit against the prosecutor and the sheriff.
01:14Yeah, it looks that way.
01:15It must be what he's talking about, a malicious prosecution action.
01:18Obviously, as we know, Harvey, it can be exceptionally hard to prevail on malicious prosecution cases.
01:24In order for him to do it, he would have to show, he'd have the burden to show, that not
01:29only did they conceal evidence, but for the concealment of evidence, it would have undermined
01:35the original finding of probable cause to charge him in the first place.
01:41And based on what we know here, it doesn't seem that the concealment of this specific
01:46live ammo, this evidence that they later disclosed, I'm not sure that that would have
01:51gotten to the point of undermining the prosecution.
01:54Let me make Alex Baldwin's case, Jason, and tell me what you think.
01:58His case is not just about that ammo.
02:00His case is, number one, you charged me initially based on a law that wasn't even in effect
02:07at the time of the shooting, and you know better than that, and you dragged me through
02:12the mud, and you ended up having to dismiss it because you knew you couldn't charge me
02:17on that law.
02:18Then they go back, charge him again, and say, well, now we have proof that you pulled the
02:24trigger, even though the FBI damaged that weapon during the testing, which then compromised
02:30the whole process, and that you've got the Sheriff's Department inviting NBC News in
02:36to watch strategy sessions.
02:39So you were basically trying to get a celebrity.
02:41Does all that come into play here, or is it really just about, oh, no, no, all of it
02:46comes into play?
02:47It would.
02:48Actually, the third element of a claim for malicious prosecution is you must show an
02:52intent by the prosecution to actually conceal the evidence for the purpose of limiting your
02:57ability to defend yourself.
02:59So there is an element of intent there, and all the points you just raised, Harvey, show
03:03that the prosecutor had it out for Alec Baldwin unquestionably, and you do have that element
03:07of intent.
03:08But it does come down to whether or not Baldwin could show, could accurately plead and convince
03:13a jury that, but for the concealment of that evidence, he never should have been charged
03:18in the first place.
03:19That's where it's going to hinge.
03:20Harvey from Boston, and it just seems like Alec Baldwin has been going through it for
03:24a long time.
03:25I mean, this whole thing has gone on for quite a while, and it was just one second that changed
03:29so much for him.
03:30So we're really hoping for the best for him, and maybe that this can come to an end.
03:35The reason I found it surprising is I thought he would just want to be done with this.
03:39I did too.
03:40I'm not sure that's going to happen, but he hasn't filed a lawsuit yet.
03:44It's saber-rattling at the very least.