Judge tosses out involuntary manslaughter case against Alec Baldwin

A New Mexico judge tossed out involuntary manslaughter charges against Hollywood actor Alec Baldwin on Friday in a stunning development.

Baldwin was facing charges over the Oct. 2021 accidental shooting on the set of his movie "Rust" that took the life of 42-year-old cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza.

'The state is highly culpable for its failure to provide discovery to the defendant.'

Baldwin's attorneys argued that prosecutors were hiding new evidence after they failed to hand over the evidence to the defense. The evidence were bullets that they said were relevant to the case.

Lead prosecutor Kari Morrissey testified that she did not believe the bullets had evidentiary value, but the judge disagreed.

“The late discovery of this evidence during trial has impeded the effective use of evidence in such a way that it has impacted the fundamental fairness of the proceedings,” said Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer.

“The state is highly culpable for its failure to provide discovery to the defendant,” she added. “Dismissal with prejudice is warranted.”

Baldwin broke down in tears after Sommer made her decision.

No new charges can be brought up against Baldwin. Baldwin could have faced up to 18 months in prison had he been convicted.

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer on the set who handed the gun to Baldwin, was convicted in May of involuntary homicide for her role in the death of Hutchins. Gutierrez-Reed was only 24 years old at the time of the shooting and was in charge of checking all ammunition and guns on the set for safety.

Gutierrez-Reed was sentenced to 18 months in prison, the maximum sentence, partly because she showed little remorse and was caught on a recording calling jurors "idiots" and "a**holes."

Baldwin has maintained his innocence and even claimed at one point that he didn't even pull the trigger on the gun.

"The trigger wasn't pulled. I didn't pull the trigger. I would never point a gun at someone and pull the trigger on them, never," he said in an interview in 2021.

An attorney for Gutierrez-Reed had also floated the idea that someone had sabotaged the movie set on purpose. The movie had been bogged down by protests from union workers who walked off the set in protest against poor working conditions on the low-budget film.

[Editor's note: This article has been updated with additional information.]

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