Alec Baldwin broke down in tears and hugged his wife when his manslaughter case was sensationally dismissed.
The judge in the Santa Fe, New Mexico, court said there were errors by the prosecution in handling evidence, which she said “impacted the fundamental fairness of the case.”
The extraordinary decision came after a day-long hearing without the presence of the jury on bullets that should have been in evidence.
Baldwin’s lawyers claimed they were “hidden” from him and “buried” in another file.
The issue had marred the trial of Baldwin, 66, who has pleaded not guilty to two counts of involuntary manslaughter.
Alec Baldwin broke down in tears and hugged his wife Hilaria as his manslaughter case was sensationally dismissed.
The actor was charged with negligence for accidentally firing live ammunition at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film Rust in October 2021, killing her.
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, 26, a gunsmith on the set of Rust, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter earlier this year.
She was later jailed for 18 months, a sentence Baldwin would have faced if found guilty.
During Friday’s chaotic and ill-tempered hearing, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer asked that the bullets be brought into the courtroom where, in unusual scenes, she put on gloves and inspected them herself.
Baldwin’s attorney, Luke Nikas, told the court that the bullets were brought to police in Santa Fe in March of this year by former police officer Troy Teske, who claimed they were the same type used to shoot Hutchins.
Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins died after being hit by a bullet from the prop gun Baldwin was handling on the set of Rust in October 2021.
Baldwin holds hands with his wife Hilaria as he leaves court on Friday, moments after a judge dismissed his murder case.
On-set armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed poses for her mugshot after being found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
Baldwin’s attorney, Nikas, claimed prosecutors “buried” the bullets as evidence by giving them a different case number than the main Rust investigation.
As a result, when Baldwin’s attorneys went to police to see all of Rust’s ammunition in April, they were not shown any, in violation of the rules of evidence.
In her ruling, Judge Mary Marlow Sommer said dismissal with prejudice was a “very extreme sanction” but that the threshold had been met.
He said the “suppressed evidence” had “impacted the fundamental impartiality of the case” and that prosecutors were “highly culpable” for errors and had “unilaterally concealed” details about the munitions.
The judge said the “willful withholding of information was intentional and deliberate,” which was “so close to bad faith as to show signs of searing prejudice” and that there was “no way for the court to correct this error.”
Prosecutor Kari Morrissey responded that they had interviewed Teske last year and were skeptical of him because he is close friends with Thell Reed, Gutierrez-Reed’s father.
Morrissey said they concluded Teskey was sending them on a “wild goose chase” to pin blame on someone other than Gutierrez-Reed.
She said: ‘This is a man (Thell Reed) trying to protect his daughter and providing information that doesn’t even match the evidence that was found at the scene.’
Photos taken by detectives with the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office show the aftermath of the incident that occurred in October 2021.
The case was sensationally dismissed on Friday due to a disagreement over which bullets were admitted as evidence.
The actor’s wife, Hilaria, pictured on Thursday, was a pillar at his side during the trial.
Last November, Teske offered to send them the ammunition, but he was in Arizona, so Morrissey asked him to send a photo.
They did not appear to be real bullets taken from the set of Rust, so Morrissey did not ask local police to collect them, the court heard.
But Judge Marlowe Sommer expressed frustration during the hearing and pressed Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office Corporal Alexandria Hancock on why the bullets were not placed with Rust’s file.
Cpl. Hancock said the decision was made after discussions with prosecutors.
At one point, Morrissey herself gave evidence in bizarre scenes where no one had asked her to do so.
She insisted that Teske’s ammunition was not similar to that found on the set of Rust, so she did not want it to be analyzed further.
Baldwin, seen here outside the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s offices on the day of the shooting, had the charges filed against him twice.
Friday’s hearing turned contentious after the judge dismissed the case, as Baldwin’s attorney, Alex Spiro, pressed special prosecutor Kari Morrissey about her bias toward Baldwin.
She rejected this idea, saying that she actually “appreciated Mr. Baldwin’s films,” adding: “I appreciated the performance he did on Saturday Night Live and I really appreciate his politics.”
Spiro asked if Morrissey had called Baldwin a “fucking sucker” and she said she didn’t remember saying that, and said she didn’t recall calling the actor an “arrogant prick” in front of a witness.
Spiro said, ‘You said you’d teach him a lesson?’
Morrissey responded: “I never said I would teach him a lesson… I did everything I could to resolve this case in a very favourable way for him.”