Court acquits Alec Baldwin of all charges in the murder of cameraman Hutchins and closes the case

A New Mexico court on Friday dismissed charges against Alec Baldwin for the involuntary manslaughter of cinematographer Galina Hutchins on the set of Rust in autumn 2021, after the actor's lawyers claimed that the prosecution had withheld important evidence in the case.

Galina Hutchins, a 42-year-old native of Ukraine, was killed during a rehearsal for a scene by a shot from a revolver used by Baldwin in the film, which turned out to be loaded with live ammunition instead of blanks.

Earlier, it was found that the film's pyrotechnician, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, had accidentally confused the prop bullets with live ammunition she had brought from home. Earlier this year, she was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 18 months in prison.

The prosecution argued that Baldwin had grossly disregarded safety precautions on the set. He also faced up to 18 months in prison. He denied the charges.

Baldwin's jury trial began in Santa Fe, the capital of the US state of New Mexico, on 10 July and lasted three days.

The defence team filed a motion to dismiss the case on Friday morning, arguing that prosecutors had failed to hand over a key piece of evidence to the defence team – a batch of ammunition that was implicated in the case. In doing so, they called into question the course of the investigation and pointed to mistakes made by the investigators who worked at the scene.

According to Baldwin's lawyer, the ammunition could have been linked to Hutchins' death, but was registered in another case under a different number.

Prosecutors argued that the ammunition was irrelevant and did not match the bullets found on the set.

However, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer ruled that they should have been turned over to Baldwin's defence team.

"The government's withholding of this information was deliberate and intentional," she said, "and the court has no way of correcting this error.

As a result, one of the special prosecutors resigned, and the judge dismissed the jury and ordered the case dismissed.

Alec Baldwin broke down in tears when the court ruling was announced, and then hugged his lawyer and wife.

Prosecutors will not be able to bring charges against Baldwin again, as the court has completely dismissed the case without prejudice.

Halyna Hutchins is a Ukrainian director of photography and investigative journalist.

She has worked on more than 30 feature films, short films and miniseries, and is an honorary member of the American Society of Cinematographers.

Halyna grew up on a Soviet military base above the Arctic Circle. She studied journalism in Kyiv and film in Los Angeles.

In 2019, American Cinematographer magazine called her a "rising star" in the film industry.

She was the main cinematographer on Archenemy, released in 2020.

Background. In April this year, the court sentenced the first defendant in the murder of cameraman Hutchins during the filming of Rust. Actor Alec Baldwin was also charged with manslaughter.