Alec Baldwin’s ‘Rust’ Case Is Officially Over

Almost six months after a Santa Fe judge dismissed the involuntary manslaughter case against Alec Baldwin in the Rust tragedy, the case is finally over.

On Monday, the Santa Fe District Attorney’s Office announced in a press release that special prosecutor Kari Morrissey withdrew the state’s notice of appeal filed on Nov. 21. Had it moved forward, the appeal would have challenged the court’s decision to dismiss the criminal charges against Baldwin in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

“Today’s decision to dismiss the appeal is the final vindication of what Alec Baldwin and his attorneys have said from the beginning — this was an unspeakable tragedy but Alec Baldwin committed no crime,” his attorneys, Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro, said in a joint statement to The Hollywood Reporter. “The rule of law remains intact in New Mexico.”

The case against the producer and actor was dismissed with prejudice, meaning he could not be tried again, on July 12 after a day-long, dramatic and bizarre hearing over how some bullets were handled by police and prosecutors. Earlier that day, the judge had examined ammo, which Baldwin and his attorneys said was withheld from them. Prior to the case’s dismissal, a prosecutor had resigned and the other called herself to the stand as a witness.

“The late discovery of this evidence has impacted the fundamental fairness of the proceedings,” Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer stated in dismissing the case. “There is no way for the court to right this wrong. The sanction of dismissal is the only warranted remedy.”

A few weeks after the case’s abrupt ending in July, just days after it began, Sommer denounced the prosecution for misconduct and found that it “intentionally and deliberately withheld” key evidence from the defense. She faulted prosecutors for “willful and deliberate misconduct,” which led to the case’s ultimate dismissal.

She also found Morrissey not only repeatedly failed to fulfill discover obligations but also gave “inconsistent” testimony about the evidence she suppressed.

While speaking about the Rust case last week on David Duchovny’s Fail Better podcast, Baldwin explained that even though he felt his enemies were dead set on seeing him go to prison for the tragic shooting or be “canceled,” he was optimistic about his career prospects after the judge’s decision.

“I do believe that, by the communications I’ve had lately, things are coming back my way to work, and I’m happy about that because I’ve got seven kids,” he said. “But I’ve also enjoyed the fact that there’s so much of this case that is not known because we didn’t have a full trial.”