Alec Baldwin‘s involuntary manslaughter trial following the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of his movie Rust has been dismissed.
First Judicial District Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed the case on Friday, July 12, in a Santa Fe, New Mexico court, agreeing with Baldwin’s lawyers that prosecutors hid evidence that may have been linked to the fatal shooting.
“There is no way for the court to right this wrong,” Marlowe Sommer told the court, per NBC News. “The sanction of dismissal is the only warranted remedy.” The dismissal was with prejudice, which means the involuntary manslaughter case against Baldwin cannot be filed again.
According to the outlet, Baldwin sobbed and put his face in his hands after the decision was made before embracing his wife, Hilaria Baldwin.
Earlier on Friday, Alec and his legal team filed the motion to dimiss the case when it was revealed that the state allegedly failed to turn over a batch of bullets to the defense. According to Fox News, Baldwin’s attorney, Luke Nikas, accused the prosecution of concealing evidence that “would be favorable” to the actor.
Nikas alleged that the state withheld evidence that prop distributor Seth Kenney was the source of the live ammunition. Kenney, the owner of the prop firearms supplier for Rust, has previously denied any wrongdoing in the incident.
Per Fox News, crime scene technician Marissa Poppell testified during cross-examination on Thursday, July 11, that a “good samaritan” handed over live ammunition after the conclusion of Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed‘s trial to Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department. The “good samaritan” was revealed to be Troy Teske, who is a family friend of Gutierrez Reed’s father. Baldwin’s attorneys argued this information was not given to the defense.
Kari Morrissey, the special prosecutor in the case, said the disputed ammunition was not linked to the case or hidden from Alec’s lawyers. She argued the bullets were not the same size or composition as the live rounds retrieved from the Rust set and described the dispute as a “wild goose chase that has no evidentiary value whatsoever.”
In October 2021, Baldwin was rehearsing a scene for his Western film on its New Mexico set when a gun he was holding discharged. Although the weapon was not supposed to be loaded with live ammunition, a bullet was fired, killing Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza.
In the wake of the tragedy, Baldwin insisted that he was innocent of any wrongdoing. “The trigger wasn’t pulled. I didn’t pull the trigger. I would never point a gun at anyone and pull the trigger at them. Never,” he said in a December 2021 interview with George Stephanopoulos. “I have no idea [how a bullet got in there]. Someone put a live bullet in a gun. A bullet that wasn’t even supposed to be on the property.”
Baldwin was charged with involuntary manslaughter in January 2023. Prosecutors later dismissed the case in April 2023 after he pleaded not guilty.
“We are pleased with the decision to dismiss the case against Alec Baldwin and we encourage a proper investigation into the facts and circumstances of this tragic accident,” Baldwin’s attorneys, Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro, said in a statement at the time.
Reports surfaced in August 2023 that the charge against Baldwin could be refiled after an independent investigation into the gun determined that it had not malfunctioned and the trigger had to have been pulled for the weapon to fire.
Us Weekly confirmed in January that Baldwin was indicted for involuntary manslaughter a second time, once again pleading not guilty. “We look forward to our day in court,” Nikas and Spiro told Us in a statement.
In addition to Baldwin, two crew members were charged in the incident. Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer who was responsible for the firearms on set, pleaded not guilty to one count of involuntary manslaughter and one count of tampering with evidence for allegedly handing off a bag of cocaine following her police interview after the shooting. Her trial began in February.
First assistant director David Halls, who handed the gun to Baldwin before the shooting, pleaded no contest to negligent use of a deadly weapon and was sentenced to six months of unsupervised probation.
Prior to Baldwin’s trial, he was named in a February 2022 wrongful death lawsuit filed on behalf of Hutchins’ husband, Matthew, and their son. That October, they agreed on an undisclosed settlement.
