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Alec Baldwin wept in court after his high profile criminal trial, in which he faced involuntary manslaughter charges over the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, was thrown out by a New Mexico judge.
The case was dismissed on Friday after it was found that the state had withheld evidence that could have shed light on how live rounds got onto the set of the Rust movie, where the young cinematographer was fatally shot.
“There is no way for the court to right this wrong,” Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer said in court adding that dismissal of the case was needed to ensure “the integrity of the judicial system.”
“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.”
Baldwin, 66, became visibly emotional, holding his head in his hands and embracing his lawyer. He then turned around and embraced his wife, Hilaria Baldwin. Baldwin climbed into an SUV outside the Santa Fe courthouse and left without speaking to media.
The decision was announced during a hearing after the jury had been dismissed for the weekend.
Sommer put a pause on the trial earlier on Friday while she considered the defense motion to dismiss the case over the evidence. The prosecution said that the ammunition was not connected to the case and was not hidden.
The issue emerged on Thursday on the second day of the actor’s trial during defense questioning of the sheriff’s crime scene technician Marissa Poppell.
Baldwin lawyer Alex Spiro asked whether a “good Samaritan” had come into the sheriff’s office with the ammunition earlier this year at the end of the trial of Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the film’s armorer, for her role in Hutchins’ death.
The evidence was not put into the same file as the rest of the “Rust” case, and was not presented to Baldwin’s defense team when they examined the ballistics evidence in April.
The man who supplied ammunition was a close friend of Gutierrez-Reed’s father, movie armorer Thell Reed. Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey argued that the move from the men was part of an attempt by Reed to shift blame away from his daughter.
“This is a wild goose chase that has no evidentiary value whatsoever,” Morrissey told the judge on Friday. “This is just a man trying to protect his daughter.” Judge Marlowe disagreed.
As well as his wife, members of Baldwin’s family, including his younger brother Stephen Baldwin and older sister Elizabeth Keuchler — have been present in the courtroom to support him throughout proceedings, and also became emotional after the case was dismissed.
Nearly three years have passed since a prop gun Baldwin was holding went off during a rehearsal of the film’s shooting scene in 2021, striking and killing Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza.
The star and co-producer of the Western was pointing a revolver at Hutchins during a rehearsal in a small church on the movie set at Bonanza Creek Ranch, when the incident occurred. Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer — but not the trigger — and the gun fired.
He was charged with a single felony count of involuntary manslaughter and faced 18 months in prison, an idea that sent schockwaves through the show business industry. The career of the “Hunt for Red October” and “30 Rock” star and frequent “Saturday Night Live” host — who has been a household name for more than three decades — was briefly cast into doubt.
Baldwin has continuously maintained his innocence and said in a previous interview with ABC News, and implied in interviews with authorities, that he never pulled the revolver’s trigger.
He and other producers still face civil lawsuits from Hutchins’ parents and sister.
Speaking outside the courthouse doors, Morrissey said she respected the judge’s decision but that there was no reason to believe the undisclosed evidence in question was related to the set of “Rust.”
“The importance of the evidence was misconstrued by the defense attorneys,” she said. “We did everything humanly possible to bring justice to Halyna and to her family and we’re proud of the work we did.”
Gutierrez-Reed herself had been expected to testify Friday, but her testimony was delayed. She was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 18 months in prison earlier this year, though is appealing the verdict.
After news of the Baldwin trial collapse on Friday, lawyers for the armorer said they would also be seeking to have charges against her dismissed.
“The judge found intentional misconduct and we also have had the same failures in Hannah’s case, by the State. We will be moving for dismissal of Hannah’s case,” said Jason Bowles, the attorney for Gutierrez-Reed.
