The actor had been on trial for involuntary manslaughter since Tuesday, as prosecutors argued that his reckless handling of a prop gun on the set of the low-budget western made him responsible for the shooting death of the film’s cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins in 2021.
Baldwin’s lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the case late Thursday, alleging that prosecutors hid evidence that could have helped determine the source of the live round found in Baldwin’s revolver.
The potential evidence in question was a collection of rounds in the possession of Troy Teske, a friend of the “Rust” armorer’s stepfather, Thell Reed. Teske gave the live rounds to personnel at the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office earlier this year, after armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed’s involuntary manslaughter trial concluded with her conviction.
“The State is attempting to establish a link between Baldwin and the source of the live ammunition. The only way it can do that is by demonstrating that the live rounds were brought to the set by the movie’s armorer, given the State’s assertion that Baldwin should have been aware of her youth and inexperience and therefore the possibility that she brought live rounds to the set,” the defense team wrote in its motion. “The State not only failed to disclose the evidence—it affirmatively hid it under a file number that is unaffiliated with the Rust case.”
When the concerns were brought up in court on Friday, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer donned a pair of blue gloves, cut open the manilla packet containing the ammunition and asked for a crime scene technician to identify each of the rounds. As the judge questioned the technician, it was found that at least one of the bullets was a similar to a dummy round found on the “Rust” set.
After the judge sent the jury home Friday to look into the matter, special prosecutor Kari Morrissey called herself as a witness, testifying that the ammunition in question did not match live ammunition collected from the “Rust” set, and had never been brought to New Mexico — let alone the film set — prior to the shooting.
The defense was aware of the ammunition in question, Morrissey argued, but the rounds weren’t formally presented to the defense team as evidence because they did not appear to match the rounds that were found on the set of the western.
But Sommer excoriated the prosecution in her ruling.
“If this conduct does not rise to the level of bad faith, it certainly comes so near to bad faith as to show signs of scorching prejudice,” she said in her ruling. She said that Baldwin’s defense team should have been made aware of the ammunition earlier, and it was now too late for them to incorporate it into their defense. Therefore, not even the declaration of a mistrial could remedy the situation; the case had to be dismissed with prejudice.
As Sommer began laying down her reasoning for dismissing the trial, Baldwin’s sister, Beth Keuchler, began sobbing in the stands.
The actor himself – who had for much of the proceedings maintained an unfazed and calm demeanor – put his face in his hands, then embraced his attorneys and wife. He later left court without taking questions from the dozens of reporters the case had drawn into New Mexico.
Maria Paul contributed to this report.
