The involuntary manslaughter case against actor Alec Baldwin was dismissed in dramatic fashion on Friday, July 12 after the judge ruled that prosecutors did not properly turn over evidence to the defense.
The nearly three-year legal saga for Alec Baldwin in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer ended without a verdict but with tears of relief for the actor and a small coterie of family who had settled into a somber daily routine on wooden benches inside a windowless New Mexico courtroom at trial.
Baldwin’s attorneys had filed a motion to dismiss the case, arguing state investigators did not properly share with the defense that a man delivered a box of ammunition purportedly connected to the case to investigators.
Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer sent the jury home for the day and heard several hours of testimony about the alleged issue. At about 4 p.m. local time, she sided with the defense and dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning it cannot be brought again.
“Have a great weekend,” Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer said.
“The state’s discovery violation has injected a needless, incurable delay into the jury trial,” she said. “Dismissal with prejudice is warranted to ensure the integrity of the judicial system and the efficient administration of justice. Your motion to dismiss with prejudice is granted.”
Baldwin cried as the decision was announced, and he immediately hugged his wife Hilaria.
The decision came after a chaotic hearing Friday just a few days into Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter trial related to the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on October 21, 2021, on the New Mexico set of the film “Rust.” Baldwin had pleaded not guilty and could have faced up to 18 months in prison.
Baldwin was practicing a “cross draw” pulling a gun from a holster on the opposite side of his body from his draw hand with a prop gun when it fired a live round, killing Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza.
During opening statements on Wednesday, prosecutors alleged Baldwin violated the “cardinal rules of firearm safety” by pointing the prop gun at Hutchins and pulling the trigger.
However, Baldwin’s defense blamed the film’s armorer and the first assistant director jointly in charge of firearm safety on set for allowing a real bullet to be loaded into the prop gun and failing to make it safe before it reached Baldwin.
“This was an unspeakable tragedy, but Alec Baldwin committed no crime. He was an actor, acting, playing the role of Harlan Rust,” attorney Alex Spiro said. “These ‘cardinal rules’ are not cardinal rules on a movie set.
This is the third criminal case related to the on-set shooting. In March, Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the armorer for “Rust,” was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Dave Halls, the assistant director, agreed to plead no contest to negligent use of a deadly weapon, the district attorney for New Mexico’s First Judicial District said. The terms of the deal included six months of probation and a suspended sentence, prosecutors said.