Judge dismisses Alec Baldwin's Rust trial "with prejudice"

Judge Mary Marlowe Sonner has just dismissed the involuntary manslaughter case against Alec Baldwin “with prejudice.” The dismissal comes under a Brady violation, which comes into play when a judge finds that prosecution in a case withheld evidence that would have materially impacted the defense—in this case, related to the discovery of live bullets that matched the ones found on the set of Rust, in a supply of ammo supplied to investigators by an associate of armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed.

The “with prejudice” part of the dismissal means that the case against Baldwin is, essentially, finished: He can’t be retried, with Judge Sonner arguing that the late introduction of the evidence in question had permanently blown any ability for Baldwin to get a fair trial on the charges against him. The verdict comes after what was, from outside perspectives, a very weird afternoon of testimony, as special prosecutor Kari Morrissey called herself to the witness stand to try to explain why defense wasn’t notified of the rounds in question. (This also led to an extremely weird moment where Morrissey testified, under oath, that she likes Baldwin’s movies, as well as “the acting he did on Saturday Night Live.”) Sonner wasn’t swayed, and ultimately found that the prosecution had botched the discovery process badly enough to warrant dismissal.

A visibly emotional Baldwin was seen embracing people in the court as footage of the trial left off. Earlier today, Morrissey’s co-special-prosecutor on the case, Erlinda Ocampo Johnson, reportedly resigned from the case as the defense’s focus on the potential Brady violation amped up, presumably in the interest of getting out while the getting was good.

Gutierrez-Reed was previously convicted on involuntary manslaughter charges in the case of the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who died on October 21, 2021, when a gun Baldwin was holding on the set of the film discharged.