The judge dismissed the involuntary manslaughter charges against Alec Baldwin on Friday, hours after his lawyers alleged police and prosecutors hid evidence related to the live round that killed Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in 2021. It’s a stunning turn of events just two days after testimony in the criminal case began.
Alec Baldwin sobbed in the courtroom when the decision was announced, and hugged his wife, Hilaria Baldwin. The dismissal was with prejudice, which means the prosecution cannot retry the case against Baldwin. He faced up to 18 months in prison if convicted.
Criminal defense lawyer Lauren Johnson-Norris said that she’s “not surprised this case ultimately ended up as a complete embarrassment to the prosecution.” She explained, “Not only was their theory against Baldwin untenable, they withheld exculpatory evidence in an effort to convict him.” Johnson-Norris expects Gutierrez-Reed to be filing a motion for a new trial on Monday.
The jury was sent home early Friday when Baldwin’s defense attorneys accused the prosecution of withholding evidence. The judge heard witness testimony before making a decision. The crux of the issue was ammunition brought into the sheriff’s office in March 2024, which Hutchins was killed by.
Before the ruling was official, Johnson-Norris told Yahoo the prosecution faced an “uphill battle.” She said, “They need to show that Baldwin acted negligently in firing the gun while acting on the set. This is problematic for the prosecution because the armorer who loaded the gun has already been convicted of the same crime.”
In opening statements, Baldwin’s defense attorney Alex Spiro blamed others for failing to properly check the gun before handing it to the actor. Celebrity attorney Chris Melcher said the jury would have to decide whether it was “reasonable for anyone to accept someone else’s word that a gun is unloaded.”
The prosecution claimed Baldwin routinely failed to do safety checks on the set of Rust with the “inexperienced” on-set armorer and alleged he “mishandled” the gun that went off. Baldwin maintained he never pulled the trigger. Experts testified that it’s not possible for the gun to have gone off without the trigger being pulled.
In June, Baldwin’s lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the case due to the damage of the firearm during testing, but the motion was denied.
Ultimately, the case against Alec Baldwin was dismissed with prejudice, bringing an end to the trial and preventing the prosecution from retrying the case. The judge cited the late discovery of evidence during trial and its impact on the fundamental fairness of the proceedings as reasons for the dismissal. This decision follows allegations of evidence being withheld by police and prosecutors, marking a significant development in the legal proceedings surrounding the tragic death of Halyna Hutchins.
