A judge on Friday dismissed the involuntary manslaughter charge against actor Alec Baldwin in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, whom he accidentally shot and killed on the set of indie Western “Rust” in 2021.
The decision in Baldwin’s case comes just days after his trial began in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Leading up to the move, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer had sent the jury home after defense attorneys presented a motion accusing prosecutors of burying evidence.
Sommer dismissed the case with prejudice, barring the state from presenting a new trial. If convicted, Baldwin would have faced a maximum of 18 months in prison.
According to a copy of the defense’s motion, reviewed by HuffPost, the push to dismiss Baldwin’s case centered on one question: How did live ammunition end up on a movie set?
Crime scene technician Marissa Poppell told the court Friday that five live rounds were discovered on the set in New Mexico.
The defense motion stated that Troy Teske, a retired police officer in Mohave County, Arizona, delivered the live ammunition to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office and gave it to Poppell. Teske was unsure at the time whether this live ammunition would match the ammunition that killed Hutchins.
Baldwin’s attorneys argued that the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office was in possession of evidence but did not disclose this in the official case file or to his defense team.
According to the state, the ammunition it was accused of withholding was irrelevant to the case.
Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey called herself to the witness stand in an attempt to contest the claim that the state hid evidence. During her questioning, Morrissey told Alex Spiro, Baldwin’s attorney, that her fellow prosector Erlinda Ocampo Johnson resigned that same day due to the decision to have a public hearing into the motion to dismiss the case.
As the judge announced the dismissal, Baldwin covered his face with his hand and sobbed, hugging his attorneys.
Morrissey told reporters outside the courthouse that she disagreed with the judge’s decision but respected it. She disputed that the ammunition could have been key evidence for Baldwin’s defense.
“I believe that the importance of the evidence was misconstrued by the defense attorneys,” she said.
Hutchins was killed in October 2021 during a rehearsal when a .45-caliber revolver that Baldwin was holding fired a live round. The bullet also injured director Joel Souza.
Baldwin was initially charged in January of last year but his case was dismissed months later due to new evidence. The case was revived earlier this year with a grand jury indictment.
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer who oversaw the prop weapons for “Rust,” was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced in April to 18 months in prison.
Gutierrez-Reed had been expected to testify in court Friday before the surprise hearing on the defense motion.
Ocampo Johnson, the prosecutor, alleged in her opening statement that Baldwin was reckless and “violated the cardinal rules of firearm safety.”
But Spiro said that as an actor, Baldwin had no reason to check the gun and was not responsible for ensuring safety on set, as that was the job of other professionals.