A New Mexico judge on Friday dismissed the criminal involuntary manslaughter case against Alec Baldwin on the third day of the actor's trial, after ruling that prosecutors improperly kept evidence about live ammunition potentially related to the case secret from defense lawyers.
Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer tossed the case against Baldwin, which related to the October 2021 accidental shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of his movie "Rust," with prejudice. That means prosecutors cannot retry the "30 Rock" actor.
Baldwin wept as the decision was announced, on what was the third day of trial in the case in state court in Santa Fe. He soon after embraced his wife Hilaria.
"There is no way for the court to right this wrong," Sommers said, referring to the prosecution's actions. "The sanction of dismissal is the only warranted remedy."
Under U.S. criminal law, prosecutors must turn over evidence to defense lawyers if that evidence is potentially helpful to a defendant.
A defense lawyer for Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who served as the armorer on the "Rust" production, in a statement said he will seek her immediate release from prison, where she is currently serving an 18-month prison sentence after being convicted in March of involuntary manslaughter in Hutchins' death.
Guitierrez-Reed's lawyer, Jason Bowels, said the prosecution in Baldwin's and his client's case had engaged in an "absolutely shocking" pattern of misconduct.
Baldwin in an Instagram post on Saturday morning wrote, "There are too many people who have supported me to thank just now."
"To all of you, you will never know how much I appreciate your kindness toward my family," Baldwin wrote.
Brian Parrish, a lawyer for Hutchins' widower Matthew Hutchins, in a statement, said, "We respect the court's decision," but vowed to pursue civil claims against Baldwin.
Hours before she dismissed the case on Friday, Sommer sent jurors home for the weekend after receiving a motion from Baldwin's attorneys asking her to toss the charges.
The judge then conducted a hearing on the defense's claims, which cited the ammunition in the possession of prosecutors, which had not been previously disclosed to Baldwin's team by prosecutors.
"We don't know if it's a live ammunition match or not," Baldwin's attorney Luke Nikas told Sommer, according to the Associated Press. "But we do know that the state had it, and it's disclosable."Prosecutors in turn claimed that the ammo was not related to the case.
On Friday night, Erlinda Johnson Ocampo, who had been a special prosecutor on the team in Baldwin's case, said she quit the team midday Friday after learning a day earlier that ammunition had been given to law enforcement on the heels of the shooting which had not been disclosed to defense lawyers.
"We have an obligation as prosecutors, we have an obligation not only to the people, but to the defendant and our obligation is to make sure that all the evidence is turned over," Ocampo told Chris Cuomon on NewsNation. "We don't get to decide what the defense is going to be. Our job is to ensure transparency, and to ensure that the defendant has everything that the prosecution has gathered."
The dismissal comes 16 months after the charges against Baldwin were first tossed out by prosecutors after they said "new facts" had emerged that required further investigation.
The case was refiled against him earlier this year.
Baldwin was rehearsing a scene when a revolver he was handling fired, killing the 42-year-old Hutchins.
Since the shooting, Baldwin has denied that he pulled the trigger of the weapon and said that he had been told the gun was unable to be fired when it was handed to him.
He had faced the possibility of being sentenced to 18 months in prison if convicted in the case.