Alec Baldwin burst into tears and hugged his wife as his involuntary manslaughter case was sensationally dismissed.
The judge in the Santa Fe, New Mexico, district court said the prosecution made mistakes in handling evidence that she said “affected the fundamental fairness of the case.”
The extraordinary decision came after a day-long hearing without a jury present over bullets that were to have been used as evidence.
Baldwin’s lawyers claimed the information was “hidden” from them and “buried” in another file.
The case upended the trial of Baldwin, 66, who pleaded not guilty to two counts of involuntary manslaughter.
Alec Baldwin burst into tears and hugged his wife Hilaria as his involuntary manslaughter case was sensationally dismissed
The 66-year-old actor became emotional when he heard that the case against him was dismissed
The actor was accused of negligence after accidentally firing a live round at camerawoman Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film Rust in October 2021, killing her.
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, 26, the gunsmith on the set of Rust, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter earlier this year.
She was later sentenced to 18 months in prison, a sentence Baldwin would receive if found guilty.
During Friday’s chaotic and chaotic hearing, Judge Mary Marlowe asked Sommer to bring the bullets into the courtroom. In unusual scenes, she donned gloves and inspected the bullets herself.
Baldwin’s attorney, Luke Nikas, told the court that the bullets were brought to Santa Fe police in March of this year by former police officer Troy Teske. He claimed they were the same bullets used to kill Hutchins.
Baldwin holds hands with his wife Hilaria as he leaves the courthouse Friday, moments after his manslaughter case was dismissed by a judge
Camerawoman Halyna Hutchins died after being struck by a bullet from the prop gun Baldwin was holding on the Rust film set in October 2021
The film’s set gunmaker, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, poses for an arrest photo after being convicted of involuntary manslaughter
Baldwin’s attorney Nikas alleged that prosecutors “buried” the bullets as evidence by giving them a different case number than Rust’s main investigation.
When Baldwin’s lawyers went to the police in April to view all the Rust ammunition, they were not shown the ammunition. That is a violation of the rules of evidence.
Moments before the judge’s ruling, the court heard that one of the two special prosecutors, Erlina Johnson, had left the case
Judge Mary Marlow Sommer said in her ruling that dismissal with prejudice was a “very extreme sanction” but that the threshold had been reached.
She said the “withheld evidence” had “affected the fundamental fairness of the case” and that prosecutors were “very culpable” for the errors and had “unilaterally” suppressed details about the ammunition.
The judge said it was a “deliberate and purposeful withholding of information” that “came so close to bad faith as to show signs of searing prejudice” and that there was “no way for the court to right this wrong”.
District Attorney Kari Morrissey countered that they had already interviewed Teske last year and that they were skeptical of him because he is a good friend of Gutierrez-Reed’s father, Thell Reed.
Morrissey said they concluded that Teskey was sending them on a “wild goose chase” to place the blame on someone other than Gutierrez-Reed.
She said, “This is a man (Thell Reed) trying to protect his daughter and providing information that doesn’t even match the evidence found at the crime scene.”
Photos taken by Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office detectives show the aftermath of the October 2021 incident
The case was sensationally dismissed on Friday over a disagreement over bullets being admitted as evidence
Baldwin’s lawyers succeeded in having the case dismissed, as the judge agreed that the mishandled evidence “affected the fundamental fairness of the case.”
Last November, Teske offered to send the ammunition, but he was in Arizona, so Morrissey asked him to send a photo.
They did not resemble the bullets found on the set of Rust, which is why Morrissey did not ask for the bullets to be collected by local police, the court heard.
But Judge Marlowe Sommer expressed frustration during the hearing, pressing Cpl. Alexandria Hancock of the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office about why the bullets were not included in the Rust case file.
Corporal Hancock said the decision was made after consultation with prosecutors.
At one point, Morrissey herself testified in bizarre scenes, even though no one had asked her to do so.
She maintained that Teske’s ammunition did not match the ammunition found on the set of Rust and that she therefore did not want it analyzed further.
Baldwin, seen here outside the Santa Fe County sheriff’s office on the day of the shooting, faced two charges.
Friday’s hearing grew heated after the judge dismissed the case because Baldwin’s attorney Alex Spiro questioned special prosecutor Kari Morrissey about her bias against Baldwin.
She dismissed the idea, saying she actually appreciated Baldwin’s films, adding, “I appreciated his acting on Saturday Night Live and I really appreciate his political views.”
Spiro asked if Morrissey had called Baldwin a “shithole” and she said she didn’t remember saying that. She also said she didn’t remember calling the actor an “arrogant prick” to a witness.
Spiro said, “You said you would teach him a lesson?”
Morrissey responded: ‘I never said I would teach him a lesson… I did everything I could to resolve this matter in the most favourable way for him.’
