Alec Baldwin reacted emotionally to the judge’s decision, hugging his wife, Hilaria Baldwin, in the courtroom.
In a dramatic development, a New Mexico judge dismissed Alec Baldwin’s “Rust” case on Friday, just three days into his manslaughter trial.
The judge ruled in favor of the defense’s motion to dismiss, which argued that live ammunition connected to the investigation of the fatal on-set shooting had been “concealed” by local law enforcement.
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Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer cited a state discovery violation for the late disclosure of a supplemental report on the ammunition evidence. She said this “injected needless delay into the proceedings,” approached “bad faith,” and was “highly prejudicial to the defendant.”
“There is no way for the court to right this wrong,” Sommer said, dismissing the case with prejudice, which means Baldwin cannot be retried on the charge.
Baldwin reacted emotionally to the judge’s decision, hugging his wife, Hilaria Baldwin, in the courtroom. If convicted, Baldwin could have faced 18 months in prison.
The decision came after a full day of motions on Friday during Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter trial over the death of “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Hutchins was killed in October 2021 when Baldwin’s revolver discharged a live round on the Santa Fe set.
The defense’s motion was discussed without the jury present. Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey even took the stand to testify. During cross-examination, it was revealed that another prosecutor, Erlinda Ocampo Johnson, resigned on Friday because she disagreed with holding a public hearing.
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On Thursday, the defense had filed a motion to dismiss the case over the handling of ammunition evidence. The state argued the evidence was neither exculpatory nor relevant to Baldwin’s case.
The issue arose when defense attorney Alex Spiro questioned state’s witness Marissa Poppell, a crime scene technician, about a “good Samaritan” who handed over ammunition to the sheriff’s office in March. This occurred during “Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez’s trial. The ammunition reportedly ended up with Seth Kenney, who provided firearms, blanks, and dummy rounds for the film.
Gutierrez was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Hutchins’ death. Prosecutors claimed she was the source of the live bullet that killed Hutchins and failed to follow safety protocols.
Poppell testified that her lieutenant instructed her to create a report documenting the ammunition handover and file it under a different case number from the “Rust” case. Spiro accused her of burying the evidence, but she denied this, stating it was included in a supplemental report.
During cross-examination, Spiro asked if the live rounds handed over might match the ammunition that killed Hutchins. Poppell said she did not know, as the rounds were not included with the rest of the “Rust” evidence or sent to the FBI for testing.
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Morrissey had Poppell confirm that Baldwin was not charged with involuntary manslaughter for bringing live rounds onto the set or for loading a live round into the gun. Poppell said Gutierrez had already been convicted for those actions.
Morrissey also revealed that the “good Samaritan” who provided the ammunition was Troy Teske, a close friend of Gutierrez’s father, Thell Reed. She suggested Teske had motivations to blame Kenney to help Gutierrez.
Kenney testified on Friday that he initially believed Teske’s ammunition might have been the source of the live rounds but later determined it couldn’t have been based on differences in powder and projectiles.
Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office Cpl. Alexandra Hancock testified that Teske brought live ammunition to the sheriff’s office during Gutierrez’s trial. The ammunition was filed under a different case number pending further investigation.
Judge Sommer ruled that the state’s failure to disclose the supplemental report was “intentional and deliberate” and came to light too late to allow the defense to prepare adequately for trial.
“The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office and the prosecutor failed to disclose the supplemental report to the defense and provide the defense an opportunity to inspect the rounds collected into evidence that Mr. Teske gave,” Sommer said. She added that this was “potentially exculpatory” evidence.
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Morrissey told reporters she respects the court’s decision but was disappointed, believing the defense misconstrued the importance of the evidence.
Alec Baldwin and his team left the courthouse without comment. He had been indicted on involuntary manslaughter charges earlier this year and had pleaded not guilty. His defense team had previously filed several motions to dismiss the indictment, all of which were denied.
An attorney for Hutchins’ husband, Matthew Hutchins, said they “respect the court’s decision.”
Gutierrez’s attorney, Jason Bowles, plans to file a motion addressing similar discovery failures in her case on Monday.