Alec Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter trial was abruptly dismissed by the judge on Friday, agreeing with the actor’s attorneys that the prosecution had concealed evidence that could have connected the actor to the 2021 shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the Western film “Rust.”
First Judicial District Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer declared, “There is no way for the court to right this wrong.” “The only appropriate remedy is the approval of dismissal.” The actor’s involuntary manslaughter case cannot be reopened because of the dismissal with prejudice.
The 66-year-old Baldwin wept and covered his face with his hands when Sommer revealed her choice. After that, he gave his wife Hilaria Baldwin an embrace as the courtroom’s attendees and attorneys began to leave.
If the jury had all found Baldwin guilty of the crime, he might have received a term as long as 18 months in prison. On October 21, 2021, while practicing a scene at the Bonanza Creek Ranch in Santa Fe County, the actor’s prop handgun exploded, killing Hutchins, 42, and injuring director Joel Souza.
The actor, who is most recognized for his appearances on “Saturday Night Live” and his part on “30 Rock,” entered a not guilty plea. He says he followed instructions to aim the handgun toward Hutchins, but did not realize it held a live ammunition, which is why it inadvertently went off.
The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office seized live rounds of ammunition as evidence, according to Baldwin’s attorneys, but neither disclosed their presence to the actor’s defense team nor entered them into the official case file.
The case’s special prosecutor, Kari Morrissey, emphasized that neither the ammunition under question nor its connection to the case were concealed from Baldwin’s attorneys.
Following the verdict, Morrissey expressed her disappointment with the court’s dismissal and her disagreement with it, but she still respected the ruling.
Outside of court, Morrissey told reporters, “I think the defense attorneys misinterpreted the significance of the evidence.”
When asked if Morrissey thought she had let the Hutchins family down, she replied, “No, we didn’t.” We’re happy of the work we accomplished since we did everything within our power to provide justice to Halyna and her family.
The conflict over the evidence started on Thursday when Marissa Poppell, a crime scene technician with the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office, said under cross-examination that earlier this year, a “good Samaritan” had brought ammo to the authorities.
The day after Thell Reed, the stepfather of “Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in Hutchins’ death, Troy Teske, a former police officer and friend, brought the Colt.45 rounds to the sheriff’s office in March. Thell Reed was later sentenced to 18 months in prison.
In large part due to this discovery, Baldwin’s lawyers requested the judge to dismiss the case, claiming that they ought to have been informed about the Colt.45 rounds and allowed to independently assess whether the ammunition Teske had brought in was relevant to the case.
At a pretrial hearing on Monday, Sommer determined that the actor’s involvement as a co-producer on “Rust” was not relevant to the trial, giving the actor and his team a significant legal win already this week. This action stopped the prosecution from claiming that he had a specific duty on the set.
Baldwin is a three-time Emmy winner best known for his hosting roles on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” record of 17 and for NBC’s “30 Rock.” He starred in movies including Glengarry Glen Ross, The Hunt for Red October, Beetlejuice, and The Cooler, the latter of which led him an Oscar nomination.
There were several detours on the path to the trial, one of which occurred on Friday with the resignation of co-special prosecutor Erlinda Ocampo Johnson.
In a subsequent interview, Ocampo Johnson told NBC News that she didn’t agree with the initial choice to hold the hearing in light of the evidence problem.
“I thought that a dismissal would have been the appropriate course of action,” stated Ocampo Johnson. She stated that while she supported Baldwin’s position, the judge had no other choice because the evidence had not been produced.
Baldwin was initially charged with both firearm enhancement and involuntary manslaughter; however, the latter charge was later dismissed. In April 2023, the charges were completely dropped because of “new facts in the case,” according to the prosecution. A grand jury then re-indicted him in January on an additional charge of involuntary manslaughter.
Last month, Baldwin’s attorneys requested that the case be dismissed from the court, citing serious damage to the pistol sustained during forensic examination at an FBI lab. However, the motion was turned down.
Following the dismissal of Baldwin’s case, Gutierrez-Reed’s attorney, Jason Bowles, declared that he will pursue his client’s release.
The pattern of government malfeasance in both Hannah Gutierrez-Reed’s case and this one is “absolutely shocking,” according to Bowles. “We are going to move to get her released right away.”
The special prosecutor who resigned, Ocampo Johnson, stated she did not think the material was intentionally concealed.
“I don’t believe it was deliberate. “I genuinely don’t think that,” stated Ocampo Johnson. “It was just not turned over, in my opinion, even though it ought to have been.”