The dismissal of Alec Baldwin’s shooting charges is affirmed

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico judge has upheld her decision to dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against Alec Baldwin in the fatal shooting of a cameraman on the set of a Western film.

In a ruling Thursday, District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer stood by her July decision to dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin. The case was dropped halfway through the trial amid allegations that police and prosecutors withheld evidence from the defense about the death of camerawoman Halyna Hutchins on the set of the 2021 film “Rust.”

Baldwin’s trial was upended by revelations that ammunition had been brought to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office in March by a man who claimed it might be linked to Hutchins’ killing. Prosecutors said they considered the ammunition irrelevant and unimportant, while Baldwin’s lawyers said investigators “buried” the evidence in a separate file and filed a successful motion to dismiss.

Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey can now decide whether to appeal to a higher court.

Baldwin, the star and co-producer of “Rust,” was pointing a gun at Hutchins during a rehearsal for a film set outside Santa Fe in October 2021 when the revolver exploded, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin said he pulled back the hammer – but not the trigger – and fired the revolver.

In April, a judge sentenced movie gun officer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed to a maximum of one and a half years in state prison for involuntary manslaughter in Hutchins’ death.

Gutierrez-Reed has also asked Judge Marlowe Sommer to overturn her involuntary manslaughter conviction or schedule a new trial on allegations that prosecutors failed to present evidence that might have been exculpatory.

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