The case against Alec Baldwin has officially been dismissed in his involuntary manslaughter trial. The actor reportedly broke down in tears on Friday (July 12) when Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer agreed with his defense team that prosecutors in the case improperly handled evidence and dismissed the charges against him and thus, the judge had to grant their motion for mistrial.
Baldwin faced charges of involuntary manslaughter over the accidental shooting death of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in October 2021. However, his attorneys argued that the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office improperly declined to enter the live rounds of ammunition they obtained into evidence or inform the defense that they had such evidence.
“There is no way for the court to right this wrong,” the judge said, per NBC News. “The sanction of dismissal is the only remedy.”
Per NBC, the sheriff’s office’s crime scene technician argued at trial that the rounds delivered to them in March by a former police officer with connections to the movie’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the same day she was convicted in her own case, weren’t hidden from Baldwin’s lawyers even though they were not entered into the case file.
However, the case was issued with prejudice, which means the prosecutors may not charge Baldwin for the same crime again. Baldwin was seen crying and hugging his wife, Hilaria Baldwin, once the decision was made. He faced up to 18 months in prison in the case of a conviction.
Baldwin was formally charged with involuntary manslaughter in January 2023 after prosecutors argued that he acted in “a negligent manner,” contending that the Colt .45 he used was not properly inspected when he pointed it directly at Hutchins and that the actor didn’t complete safety training that was required of him.
His trial in the 1st Judicial District Court in Santa Fe, New Mexico, began on July 9. Baldwin pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
