Alec Baldwin's Rust Case Is Over

New Mexico prosecutors won't pursue an appeal of a court's decision to dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against Alec Baldwin in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of a Western movie, the Santa Fe district attorney's office announced Monday, per the AP. Special Prosecutor Kari Morrissey withdrew the appeal of a July decision at trial to dismiss the charge against Baldwin in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal on set for the movie Rust outside Santa Fe in October 2021. "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," said defense attorneys Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro.

The decision to drop the appeal solidifies the decision by Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer halfway through trial to dismiss the case on allegations that police and prosecutors withheld evidence from the defense. Baldwin's trial was upended by revelations that ammunition was brought into the Santa Fe County sheriff's office in March by a man who said it could be related to Hutchins' killing. Prosecutors said they deemed the ammo unrelated and unimportant, while Baldwin's lawyers say investigators "buried" the evidence in a separate case file and filed a successful motion to dismiss.

The district attorney's office said that under state law the New Mexico attorney general would have carried forward the appeal but "did not intend to exhaustively pursue [it]." "As a result, the State's efforts to continue to litigate the case in a fair and comprehensive manner have been met with multiple barriers that have compromised its ability to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law," local prosecutors said. Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer for Rust, was pointing a gun at Hutchins during a rehearsal on set when the revolver went off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer—but not the trigger. (The movie's weapons supervisor is serving 18 months in prison on an involuntary manslaughter conviction in Hutchins' death.)