In a stunning turn of events, the judge in Alec Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter trial dismissed the case Friday, agreeing with the actor’s lawyers that prosecutors hid evidence that may have been linked to the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the Western movie “Rust” in 2021.
“There is no way for the court to right this wrong,” said First Judicial District Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer. “The sanction of dismissal is the only warranted remedy.” The dismissal was with prejudice, meaning the involuntary manslaughter case against the actor cannot be filed again.
Baldwin, 66, sobbed and put his face in his hands as Sommer announced her decision. He then embraced his wife, Hilaria, as lawyers and spectators started filing out of the courtroom.
Baldwin could have been sentenced to up to 18 months in prison if the jurors had unanimously agreed he committed the felony. The actor was rehearsing a scene at the Bonanza Creek Ranch in Santa Fe County on Oct. 21, 2021, when the prop revolver he was holding went off, killing Hutchins, 42, and wounding director Joel Souza.
The actor, best known for his role on “30 Rock” and appearances on “Saturday Night Live,” had pleaded not guilty. He claims that he was not aware the revolver contained a live round and that it discharged accidentally after he followed instructions to point it toward Hutchins.
Baldwin’s lawyers asserted that the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office took possession of live rounds of ammunition as evidence but did not record them in the official case file or reveal their existence to the actor’s defense team.
Kari Morrissey, the special prosecutor in the case, said the disputed ammunition was not linked to the case or hidden from Baldwin’s lawyers. She argued the bullets were not the same size or composition as the live rounds retrieved from the “Rust” set — including the one that killed Hutchins, 42 — and described the dispute as a “wild goose chase that has no evidentiary value whatsoever.”
Morrissey said after the ruling that she was disappointed by the court’s dismissal and disagreed, but respects the decision.
“I believe the importance of the evidence was misconstrued by the defense attorneys,” Morrissey told reporters outside court.
Asked if she believed she let the Hutchins family down, Morrissey said: “No, we didn’t. We did everything humanly possible to bring justice to Halyna and to her family, and we’re proud of the work that we did.”
Marissa Poppell, a sheriff’s office crime scene technician who testified this week, claimed the rounds were not hidden from Baldwin’s lawyers and pushed back on Baldwin lawyer Alex Spiro’s contention that the Colt .45 ammunition matched the round that killed Hutchins.
The Colt .45 rounds were delivered to the sheriff’s office in March by former police officer Troy Teske, a friend of Thell Reed, the stepfather of “Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the same day she was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Hutchins’ death. The prosecution described Teske as a “good Samaritan.”
Gutierrez-Reed was sentenced to 18 months behind bars, but the dismissal of Baldwin’s case could lead to her conviction being overturned.
The actor and his team had already won a major legal victory this week when First Judicial District Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer ruled at a pretrial hearing Monday that his role as a co-producer on “Rust” was not relevant to the trial. The move prevented prosecutors from arguing that he bore a special responsibility on the set.
Baldwin is a three-time Emmy winner known for NBC’s “30 Rock” and his record 17 hosting stints on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.” He has appeared in films such as “Beetlejuice,” “The Hunt for Red October,” “Glengarry Glen Ross” and “The Cooler,” the last of which earned him an Oscar nomination.
The road to the trial was paved with twists and turns.
Baldwin was originally charged with involuntary manslaughter and a firearm enhancement charge, but the latter charge was eventually dropped. The charges were dismissed altogether in April 2023 as prosecutors cited “new facts in the case.” Then, in January, a grand jury indicted him on an involuntary manslaughter charge once again.
Baldwin’s lawyers asked the judge last month to toss the case, arguing that the firearm was badly damaged during forensic testing at an FBI lab. But that motion was denied.
This story first appeared on NBCNews.com.
