ADVERTISEMENTA New Mexico judge has brought a sudden and stunning end to the involuntary manslaughter case against actor Alec Baldwin, dismissing it in the middle of the trial and saying it cannot be filed again.
Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed the case with prejudice based on the misconduct of police and prosecutors over the withholding of evidence from the defence in the 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film 'Rust'.
"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," Marlowe Sommer said.
"If this conduct does not rise to the level of bad faith it certainly comes so near to bad faith to show signs of scorching."
Sommer put a pause on the trial earlier Friday while she considered the defence motion to dismiss the case over the evidence.
The defence argued that prosecutors hid evidence from them about the ammunition that may be related to the shooting on the film set. The defence said they should have had the ability to determine its importance.
The prosecution said that the ammunition was not connected to the case and was not hidden.
The issue emerged on Thursday on the second day of the actor's trial during defence questioning of sheriff's crime scene technician Marissa Poppell.
Baldwin lawyer Alex Spiro asked whether a "good Samaritan" had come into the sheriff's office with the ammunition earlier this year after the trial of Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the film’s armorer, for her role in Hutchins’ death. She was sentenced to 18 months in prison on an involuntary manslaughter conviction, which she is now appealing.
Speaking outside the court in Santa Fe, special prosecutor Kari Morrissey said she was disappointed but respected the court's decision.
"We did everything humanly possible to bring justice to Halyna and to her family and we're proud of the work that we did. We're disappointed in the court's decision but we have to respect it," she said.
Baldwin climbed into an SUV outside the Santa Fe courthouse without speaking to media.