The judge overseeing Alec Baldwin’s New Mexico trial for involuntary manslaughter dismissed the case on Friday after the defense accused prosecutors of withholding evidence.
Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed the case with prejudice due to police and prosecutorial misconduct in the trial concerning the 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of “Rust.”
Before the dismissal, the case took an unexpected turn when prosecutor Erlinda Johnson resigned and fellow prosecutor Kari Morrissey called herself as a witness. Earlier in the day, the judge had sent the jury home while attorneys debated the defense’s motion for dismissal, which included questioning a witness who had already testified.
Baldwin, emotional, hugged his two attorneys, gestured towards the front of the court, and then embraced his wife Hilaria, who was also in tears. He left the Santa Fe courthouse in an SUV without speaking to the media.
If convicted, Baldwin, 66, could have faced 18 months in prison.
The defense claimed that prosecutors hid evidence related to ammunition that might be connected to the shooting. This evidence was not included in the main file of the “Rust” case and wasn’t presented to Baldwin’s defense team when they reviewed the ballistics evidence in April.
The defense argued they should have had the chance to assess its significance.
This issue arose on Thursday, the second day of the trial, during defense questioning of sheriff’s crime scene technician Marissa Poppell. Baldwin’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, asked whether a “good Samaritan” had brought the ammunition to the sheriff’s office earlier this year following the trial of Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the film’s armorer. Gutierrez-Reed was sentenced to 18 months in prison for involuntary manslaughter, a conviction she is currently appealing.
The prosecution maintained that the ammunition was unrelated to the case and not concealed. However, the judge sided with the defense.
“The late discovery of this evidence during trial has impeded the effective use of evidence in such a way that it has impacted the fundamental fairness of the proceedings,” Marlowe Sommer said. “If this conduct does not rise to the level of bad faith it certainly comes so near to bad faith to show signs of scorching.”
It has never been officially determined who brought the live rounds onto the set that killed Hutchins. At Gutierrez-Reed’s previous trial, prosecutors alleged she was responsible.
In an interview with ABC News, Baldwin stated he never pulled the trigger of the gun he was holding in Hutchins’ direction during the rehearsal.
Baldwin and other producers of the film still face civil lawsuits from Hutchins’ parents and sister.