A judge dismissed a case against Alec Baldwin, ruling that prosecutors had made crucial missteps amid their prosecution of the actor for involuntary manslaughter after a 2021 accident left cinematographer Halyna Hutchins dead.
A motion to dismiss claimed that prosecutors had withheld key evidence in the case against the "30 Rock" actor, highlighting bullets that had been dropped off to Santa Fe police by a supposed family friend of armorer Hannah Guttierez-Reed.
“The state has repeatedly made representations to defense and to the court that they were compliant with all their discovery obligations,” New Mexico Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer said in her ruling, per Deadline. “Despite their repeated representations, they have continued to fail to disclose critical evidence to the defendant.”
Charges were previously dropped against Baldwin but re-filed in January of this year. Criticism has flooded a special prosecutor for the case, Kari Morrissey, who defense attorneys accused of calling Baldwin “an arrogant prick” and a “c***sucker,” according to Deadline.
The dismissal with prejudice, which prevents future prosecution of Baldwin over the incident, came as prosecutors dropped a last-minute manila envelope containing previously withheld evidence in a dramatic moment.
The move came weeks after investigators claimed that they accidentally destroyed the gun that killed Hutchins, amid Baldwin’s team’s claim that the gun had malfunctioned.
“There is no way for the court to right this wrong,” Judge Sommer said.
The film’s armorer, Guttierez-Reed, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to 18 months in jail back in March.
Gutierrez-Reed’s legal team reportedly plans to file a motion for release based on the mishandling of evidence
