The defamation lawsuit against Alec Baldwin was dismissed. Image Source: Fox News 

The defamation lawsuit against Alec Baldwin was dismissed.

According to reports, U.S. District Judge for the District of Wyoming Nancy Freudenthal ruled out the $25 million defamation lawsuit filed over online harassment against Alec Baldwin by the family of a Marine who was killed in Afghanistan on Wednesday due to lack of jurisdiction, but an attorney said that it will be filed somewhere else.

The judge announced that the family of Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum did not have standing in the state because Alec Baldwin lives in New York. It should be noted that the federal judge did not rule out the merits of the lawsuit that was filed against the actor but mentioned that Wyoming lacked jurisdiction.The federal judge said that Alec Baldwin's post on his social media cannot reasonably be considered as something aimed at Wyoming. The judge also added that a few Internet communications from Alec Baldwin in New York to Roice McCollum in Wyoming are insufficient to establish that he expressly aimed any tortious conduct at Wyoming. Thus the lawsuit was dismissed but without prejudice.

Returning to the defamation lawsuit, Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum was one of 13 US service members killed last August in a suicide bombing attack near an airport in Kabul, Afghanistan by the Islamic State-Khorasan Province. According to the lawsuit, after his unfortunate death, Alec Baldwin donated $5,000 to Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum’s widow and son. 

Roice McCollum. Image Source: NY Post 

A $25 million lawsuit was filed against the actor stating that Alec Baldwin had defamed Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum's sister Roice McCollum by connecting her to the January 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol. According to the lawsuit, Roice McCollum had posted a picture on her social media of demonstrators from former President Donald Trump’s rally taken on the day Congress counted the Electoral College votes from the 2022 presidential election at the Washington Monument on January 6, 2021, but she did not take any part in the riot or enter the Capitol. The papers say that she was never detained, arrested, accused, or charged with any crime in connection with the riot.

However, the papers obtained allege that Alec Baldwin sent Roice McCollum a private message and called her a January 6th, 2021 rioter, and reposted a picture of demonstrators on his social media where he discussed the $5,000 donation and his feelings about the riots which according to him, he was just  expressing his political opinion. 

Following Alec Baldwin’s post, Roice McCollum, her sister, Cheyenne McCollum, and Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum’s widow, Jiennah McCollum, received hundreds of hateful messages, one of which was pointed out as it said that her brother, Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum got what he deserved. The family attorney, Dennis Postiglione, mentioned that since the case was dismissed without prejudice, they are going to refile in the jurisdiction where he can be sued, either New York, where he lives, or California, where he works because it’s not the end of the story.

Alec Baldwin at Good Morning America. Image Source: Spectrum News 

Alec Baldwin had previously mentioned that the case should be dismissed since he was simply expressing his political opinion; he had not been in Wyoming, and the claims by Cheyenne McCollum and Jiennah McCollum should be dismissed since he did not make any statement about the two of them.

Alec Baldwin’s attorney, Luke Nikas, looks at the dismissal of the lawsuit as a victory and stated that it is a significant step towards the complete dismissal of the lawsuit, which tends to punish Alec Baldwin for expressing his political opinion. Alec Baldwin is also facing another lawsuit concerning the fatal shooting of the cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of his movie "Rust" in October.

In an interview on Good Morning America, Alec Baldwin admitted that he does not feel responsible for the shooting and added that he did not pull the trigger and someone put a live bullet in his pocket. His attorney, Lisa Torraco, mentioned that his finger was outside the trigger guard, parallel to the barrel, and added that assistant director Dave Halls informed Lisa that it was a misfire for him.

Rust crew member Serge Svetnoy the main lighting technician, has launched a lawsuit against Alec Baldwin, alleging that members of the cast and crew failed to properly test the handgun to verify it did not contain live ammunition before presenting it to the actor. Another case in which he is being sued by Mamie Mitchell, the script supervisor, for deliberate infliction of emotional distress. She stated that Alec Baldwin was not obliged to fire the weapon.