Alec Baldwin was in tears after a New Mexico judge dismissed his manslaughter conviction for a fatal shooting on the set of the movie “Rust.”
The collapse came three days after Baldwin’s trial in Santa Fe, in a courtroom just miles from the revolver Baldwin used during rehearsals to shoot photographer Halina Hutchins.
This is the second time a case against the actor has been dismissed since the October 2021 shooting. He will not be judged again.
“There are so many people who have supported me that I can’t thank you enough right now,” Baldwin wrote on Instagram on Saturday. “To all of you, you will never know how grateful I am for your kindness to my family.”
His attorneys claim police and prosecutors hid evidence that could be linked to the shooting — a cache of bullets.
A key aspect of the case is how live ammunition ended up on the set, with Baldwin’s lawyers raising questions about errors made by authorities investigating and handling the scene.
Their motion to dismiss set off a high-profile chain of events, with one of the two special prosecutors on the case resigning and Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissing the jury to hear testimony from multiple witnesses.
Mr. Baldwin’s lawyers said the bullets may have been linked to Ms. Hutchins’ death but were filed in separate cases with different numbers.
Prosecutors argued the ammunition was irrelevant to the case and did not match the bullets found in Rust’s device.
However, the judge ruled that the documents should have been shared with Mr. Baldwin’s defense team regardless.
“The state’s willful concealment of this information was deliberate,” she told the bench. “There is nothing the courts can do to right this wrong.”
Prosecutors will not be able to bring charges against Baldwin again because the judge did not rule the case a mistrial and instead dismissed it with prejudice.
“This is the nuclear option. The case is over,” Los Angeles trial lawyer Joshua Ritter told the BBC.
Baldwin, known for his roles on the NBC sitcom “30 Rock” and as Donald Trump on the sketch show “Saturday Night Live,” broke down in tears as the judge read a lengthy statement detailing the reasons for his firing. tears. His wife Hilaria covered her mouth. The rest of his family cried and laughed.
The actor hugged his attorney and then his wife, who was sitting behind him. They walked hand in hand through the news channels and into a black car without answering any questions or making any comments.
The evidence came to light on Thursday, when a crime scene technician told the court that a retired police officer named Troy Teske turned in live ammunition that may be relevant to the case.
Mr Teske was a friend of the stepfather of Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the film’s armorer who was convicted of manslaughter earlier this year.
He worked alongside Seth Kenney, who was on set helping with props and ammunition.
After the judge sent the jury home on Friday, the court heard testimony about the bullet from a range of witnesses, including the authorities leading the case and Mr Kenney.
Toward the end of the hearing, Kari Morrissey, one of the prosecutors on the case, took the stand to testify about the bullets and why they were not shared with the defense. It is extremely rare for prosecutors to testify in investigations.
Ms Morrissey testified that from her perspective the ammunition had “no evidentiary value”. During her appearance, she said her co-prosecutor, Ellinda Ocampo Johnson, resigned on Friday as a judge considered dismissing the case.
She explained that Ms Johnson “did not agree with the decision to hold a public hearing on the evidentiary claims”.
