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SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico judge on Friday brought an abrupt and stunning end to Alec Baldwin’s manslaughter trial, dismissing the case midway through the actor’s trial and saying it cannot be re-litigated.
Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed the case, arguing that police and prosecutors committed misconduct by hiding evidence from the defense in the 2021 shooting of photographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film Rust.
Baldwin cried, hugged his two attorneys, pointed to the front of the courtroom and then turned and hugged his sobbing wife, Hilaria, the mother of seven of his eight children, in a hug that lasted 12 seconds. He made no remarks to the media and climbed into an SUV outside the Santa Fe County Courthouse.
“The discovery of this evidence too late during the trial prevented the effective use of the evidence and affected the fundamental fairness of the proceedings,” Marlo Sommer said. “If this conduct did not rise to the level of malice, it certainly came close to showing signs of scorching heat.”
The case-closing evidence revealed in Thursday’s testimony was ammunition brought into the sheriff’s office in March by a man who said it might be connected to Hutchins’ killing. Prosecutors said they believed the ammunition was irrelevant and unimportant to the case, while Baldwin’s attorneys claimed they “buried” the ammunition and filed a motion to dismiss the case.
The judge’s ruling ends the criminal liability of Baldwin, 66, in a nearly three-year-long lawsuit that began when he pointed a revolver at Huggins during a rehearsal and it went off, killing Huggins and injuring director Joel Sosa.
“From the beginning, our goal has been to seek justice for Halina Hutchins. We are disappointed that this case did not go to a jury,” District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altvis said in a statement.
The “The Hunt for Red October” and “30 Rock” star and “Saturday Night Live” regular host — who has been a household name for more than three decades — had his career called into question and could face up to 18 months in prison if convicted. It’s unclear what opportunities he will have now, but he and his wife signed a deal in June to host a reality show about their extended family.
Baldwin and other producers still face civil lawsuits from Hudgens’ parents, sister, and crew members. Hudgens’ widower and young son agreed to a settlement about a year after the shooting, with the widower becoming an executive producer on the then-unfinished film.
But the settlement was reportedly in jeopardy before the trial, with attorney Brian Panish, who filed the settlement, saying in a statement, “We look forward to presenting all of the evidence to the jury and holding Mr. Baldwin accountable for his actions that led to the senseless death of Halyna Hutchins.”
Rust is an independent western film that was completed in Montana. It has not yet found a distributor or been shown to the public.
Prosecutors did return one guilty verdict for Hutchins’ death: Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the armorer in the film, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for manslaughter.
She is appealing the ruling, and her attorney, Jason Bowles, said he will file a motion to dismiss his client’s case on the same grounds as Baldwin.
Marlo Sommer paused the trial early Friday and sent the jury home so she could hear testimony and arguments on the motion to dismiss.
Troy Teske, a retired police officer and close friend of Gutierrez-Reed’s father, Thell Reed, a firearms instructor and movie armorer, showed up in court with ammunition the day the guilty verdict in Gutierrez-Reed’s case was read.
Authorities found Teske and the ammunition weeks after the shooting, but they did not believe it was relevant to the case.
The evidence was collected but, crucially, was not placed in the same dossier as the rest of the evidence in the “Rust” case, nor was it shown to Baldwin’s team when they reviewed the ballistics evidence in April.
The issue was raised during defense questioning of crime scene technician Marissa Poppell, who admitted receiving the ammunition in a moment the judge viewed Friday on a police inspector’s body camera.
Morrissey argued that the emergence of this evidence was Reed’s attempt to deflect responsibility from his daughter.
“It’s a futile exercise and has no evidentiary value. He’s just a man trying to protect his daughter,” Morrissey said.
Had that evidence been included, the case against Baldwin might not have mattered. The charges against him do not allege that he was responsible for the fatal bullet on the set. But the fact that the defense did not have access to that evidence was considered enough to dismiss the charges.
Another special prosecutor in the trial, Erlinda Ocampo Johnson, who had delivered the state’s opening statement just two days earlier, resigned from the case on Friday, a move that would have been stunning in itself if not for her subsequent firing. Baldwin’s attorney, Alex Spiro, asked Morrissey if Johnson resigned because of problems with the evidence, and Morrissey said she thought it was because of the holding of the public hearing itself.
Morrissey said she respected the judge’s decision but had no reason to believe the undisclosed evidence was related to the movie scene.
The trial ended just as it began, the prosecutor had just begun to present the case, and the eyewitnesses at the scene had not yet appeared in court to testify.
Baldwin’s brother Stephen Baldwin and sister Elizabeth Kuchler, both actors, sat in the gallery behind Baldwin every day during the trial, alongside his wife. The trial was broadcast live by the Associated Press and Court TV. Reporters from both coasts filled the small courtroom and the patio outside.
On the eve of the trial on Monday, the judge ruled that Baldwin’s role as a film producer was irrelevant to the case and should be excluded, dealing a severe blow to prosecutors’ case.
Still, prosecutors were unyielding, painting Baldwin in their opening statements as a reckless showman who “put on a show” and flouted basic gun safety rules.
Defense attorney Spiro argued that his client was doing only what actors would normally do on the set of Rust and that necessary safety measures had to be taken before the gun ever got into the hands of the actor.
Baldwin was first charged with manslaughter along with Gutierrez-Reed in January 2023. The charges were dropped a few months later, but a new team of special prosecutors returned a grand jury indictment against the actor this year.
Sixteen jurors, including alternates, went home Friday, expecting to return Monday for one of the most high-profile trials in state history, but were told their service was over.
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