The high-profile trial against actor Alec Baldwin has been dropped.
The decision came as a surprise and left Baldwin in tears of relief.
Alec Baldwin risked 18 months in prison if convicted. The actor, who has consistently denied any wrongdoing, wept when Judge Mary Marlowe Summer announced her decision. He hugged his lawyers before giving his visibly moved wife a long hug. He left the courtroom without answering reporters' questions.
It was in October 2021 that Alec Baldwin fired a shot during the filming of the movie "Rust" that killed photographer Halyna Hutchins and injured photographer Joel Souza.
The weapon, which was supposed to be loaded with blank rounds, turned out to be live.
"Intentional and deliberate"
Alec Baldwin's defense team has questioned the investigation and claimed that the police withheld crucial evidence related to the ammunition found in the weapon used by Baldwin. The evidence in question was not presented to Baldwin's defense team.
The prosecutor, on the other hand, claims that nothing has been concealed.
However, Judge Mary Marlowe Summer stated that the withholding of evidence was "very harmful to the defendant".
The prosecutor's withholding of this information was intentional and deliberate. There is no way for the court to rectify this mistake, she said when announcing her decision, reports BBC.
Questions were raised
Questions about the ammunition were raised earlier on Friday when crime scene technician Marissa Poppel testified in the case.
Baldwin's lawyer hinted during the questioning that Poppel and other authorities had been overly "soft" in their interviews with the film's armorer Seth Kenney and had not sufficiently investigated the possibility that he might be responsible for the deadly ammunition reaching the set.
Prosecutor Kari Morrissey said after the announcement that she respects the judge's decision, but that there was no reason to believe that the evidence in question was related to "Rust".
The importance of the evidence was misunderstood by the defense attorneys. We did everything we could to bring justice to Halyna and her family, and we are proud of our work, Morrissey said to reporters outside the courtroom.
The film's armorer, 24-year-old Hanna Gutierrez Reed, has previously been sentenced to one and a half years in prison for manslaughter.
