Judge dismisses Alec Baldwin case

SANTA FE -- District Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer brought the involuntary manslaughter trial of Alec Baldwin to an abrupt and stunning conclusion Friday when she dismissed the case based on the state's withholding of evidence.

The dismissal was with prejudice, which means the charge cannot be refiled, bringing to an end a strange and tragic case that gained worldwide attention and may be discussed for decades.

The judge's ruling was based on the state's mishandling of evidence — specifically, a box of ammunition turned into the Sheriff's Office in March. It was entered into evidence under a different case number than all other evidence related to the shooting. The ammunition and a related report were never disclosed to the defense.

In her ruling, Marlowe Sommer said the defense's discovery of the evidence during the trial "impacted the fundamental fairness of the proceedings. 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."

The actor, his wife Hilaria Baldwin, brother Stephen Baldwin and sister Elizabeth Keuchler and other supporters wept as the judge read her ruling, drawing gasps from spectators in the gallery.

The actor and his entourage left the courthouse immediately and were whisked away by several black SUVs without a word to the throngs of journalists who swarmed them as they left the building.

Baldwin had faced up to 18 months in prison if convicted in the case, sparked by the fatal shooting of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who died after she was struck by a bullet that came from a gun Baldwin was using as a prop during a walkthrough of a scene in 2021. The western's director, Joel Souza, was wounded.

Not long after Baldwin, the film's star and producer, departed the courthouse, special prosecutor Kari Morrissey was mobbed by reporters. She faced the crush of cameras and microphones and said that while she respected the judge's decision, she felt Sommer "misconstrued" the importance of the evidence in question — which she said wasn't relevant to Baldwin's case.

"There is no reason to believe the evidence that we discussed in court today was related to the set of Rust," Morrissey told reporters. "I understand that the court disagrees with me ... There is absolutely no evidence that any of that ammunition is related to the incident involving Ms. Hutchins."

Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza, whose department investigated the case and collected the evidence upon which the dismissal was based, was in the courtroom when the ruling came down and said he agreed with Morrissey.

The judge's ruling granted a motion filed Thursday night by defense attorney Luke Nikas, who had asked to dismiss the case.

Nikas said the box of live ammunition was turned into the sheriff's office in March by Troy Teske, a friend of armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed's father Thell Reed, but that law enforcement never analyzed the ammunition, investigated its source or disclosed its existence to anyone, instead burying it under a different case number.

"The state has repeatedly made representations to defense and to the court that they were complying with all their discovery obligations. Despite their repeated representations, they have continued to fail to disclose critical evidence," Sommer said.

The judge's ruling followed an increasingly bizarre afternoon hearing, held outside the presence of the jury.

During the hearing, Morrissey took the stand, having called herself as a witness. She testified she didn't believe the evidence was relevant and didn't know what it meant when the lead investigator, Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office Cpl. Alexandria Hancock, told her she was going to create a "doc report" to document the evidence.

"I was not aware ... that a doc report would not have the same case number of Rust," Morrissey testified.

Morrissey confirmed while on the stand co-counsel Erlinda Ocampo Johnson — who joined the case only a few months ago — resigned Friday, prior to the hearing.

"My understanding is she didn't agree with the decision to have a public hearing [on the topic]," Morrissey said.

However, Johnson said in an interview with NewsNation's Chris Cuomo Friday evening that this isn't why she left.

"I left because I learned about this evidence when the public learned about it," she said.

Johnson, who joined the case in April and was not involved in Gutierrez-Reed's prosecution, told Cuomo that after she found out about the ammunition, she advocated during the lunch hour Friday for her fellow prosecutors to dismiss the charge. When they didn't, Johnson withdrew from the case.

"We have an obligation [as prosecutors] not only to the people but to the defendant, and our obligation is to make sure all the evidence is turned over," she said. "We don't get to decide what the defense is going to be."

During the hearing, Morrissey was grilled by Baldwin defense attorney Alex Spiro about whether she had called the actor an "arrogant prick" among other things, and whether she disliked him.

Morrissey said she didn't recall calling Baldwin names.

"I actually really appreciate Mr. Baldwin's movies," she said. I really appreciated the acting that he did on Saturday Night Live, and I really appreciate his politics," she added.

Prosecutors had charged Gutierrez-Reed with involuntary manslaughter in Hutchins' death, contending the armorer brought live rounds to the movie set from home and inadvertently loaded a real bullet instead of a dummy round into the Colt .45 replica Baldwin was using.

A jury convicted Gutierrez-Reed earlier this year. She's serving an 18-month sentence in a New Mexico state prison near Grants.

As he left the courthouse, Mendoza was asked whether there would be a review within his department about how investigations are conducted.

"Every case is a learning experience," he replied. "We still believe this had nothing to do with it. We'll take a look at what happened and how the two cases weren't linked together, and we'll go from there."

Later Friday evening, in a phone interview, Mendoza said the evidence probably should have been handled differently.

"In hindsight, we probably should have just used the same case number or linked the two together so the evidence wasn't overlooked," he said.

District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies, who appointed Morrissey to handle the case, issued a two-sentence statement following the judge's ruling.

"Our goal from the beginning was to seek justice for Halyna Hutchins, and we fought to get this case tried on its merits," she said. "We are disappointed that the case did not get to the jury."

New Mexican reporter Cormac Dodd contributed to this report.