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Alec Baldwin’s manslaughter trial was abruptly thrown out by a judge Friday after the judge ruled that the defense withheld key evidence about the fatal shooting on the set of “Rust.”
Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer, who presided over the trial in Santa Fe, New Mexico, said police and prosecutors did not share with his attorneys bullets that could have been linked to the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, which could have helped Baldwin’s case.
The Hollywood A-lister immediately broke down in tears as the case – which could have seen him sentenced to 18 months in prison if found guilty – was abruptly dismissed amid sensational scenes.
“The government’s deliberate concealment of this information was intentional. If this action did not rise to the level of malicious intent, it certainly came very close to malicious intent and demonstrated a strong bias,” Sommer said.
“The court concluded that this conduct was extremely prejudicial to the defendant.”
During a rehearsal in October 2021, Baldwin pointed a gun at Hudgens. Suddenly, the gun went off, killing Hudgens on the spot and injuring the film director.
Hannah Gutierrez, the armorer responsible for loading the deadly weapon in the film, has served 18 months in prison for manslaughter.
Baldwin faces the same charges, with prosecutors alleging he disregarded basic gun safety laws and acted recklessly on the set.
Baldwin’s celebrity attorney, Alex Spiro, argued that the actor had no duty to check the weapon for lethal items and was unaware it was loaded with live ammunition.
But the defense’s arguments also focused largely on discrediting the police investigation.
Spiro presented evidence Thursday showing that live ammunition that may have been involved in the shooting was turned over to police but was not disclosed to Baldwin’s attorneys.
Earlier this year, more than two years after the Rust tragedy, a “good Samaritan” handed the bullets over to the police.
The “good Samaritan,” a former police officer and family friend of Gutierrez, the armorer, told police the bullets matched the ones that killed Hutchins.
Spiro accused police of “covering up” evidence by not including it in the Rust case, depriving the defense of the opportunity to view it.
He told the court: “It was a perfect plan.”
When questioned by Spiro, crime scene technician Marissa Poppel said she had catalogued the bullet but was told not to classify it as part of the Rust case.
Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey rushed to respond, telling the court she had never seen or heard of the bullets before this week.
But when he learned that Morrissey had been involved in the discussion and decided not to include the evidence in the “Rust” case file, Morrissey volunteered to testify in a last-ditch effort to save the state’s case.
She claimed that the so-called “buried” bullets did not match the live ammunition on the set of Rust and that they had been stored in another state, Arizona, before the tragedy.
Unconvinced, Sommer dismissed the case, which led to a violent argument between Baldwin and his family.
University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias said the case was dismissed with prejudice, meaning Baldwin is unlikely to appear in court again for the shooting.
“On the criminal side, I think it’s done. The prosecutors can try to file a special appeal somehow. But I don’t think any appellate court would agree with the prosecutors,” he said.
“They were supposed to hand it over, but they didn’t.”
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