Alec Baldwin's Rust case is officially over as prosecutor withdraws appeal

Alec Baldwin's legal saga over the fatal shooting that took place on the set of his movie Rust is officially over. Five months after his case was thrown out by a New Mexico judge, the district attorney's office announced this week that they were dropping their appeal.

The accidental shooting occurred on Oct. 21, 2021, in New Mexico while Baldwin was filming the Western and discharged a gun that contained live ammunition, resulting in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and the injury of the movie's director, Joel Souza.

The legal consequences were complicated. Baldwin was first charged with involuntary manslaughter in January 2023, but the charges were dropped. A year later, he was charged again. That trial ended in July when Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer threw out the case, stating that the police and prosecutors involved had committed a "Brady violation" by withholding key evidence from the defense. Sommer dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled.

Prosecutors had been planning to appeal Sommers' decision, but they will no longer move forward with the appeal, which means Baldwin cannot be charged with involuntary manslaughter related to Hutchins' death.

"Despite its disagreement with the court's decision, the FJDA remains steadfast in its mission to uphold justice," Mary Carmack-Altwies, attorney for the First Judicial District of New Mexico, said in a statement.

Baldwin's legal team celebrated the decision to dismiss the appeal, with his lawyers Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro calling it "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" in a statement to Entertainment Weekly. "The rule of law remains intact in New Mexico."

Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, however, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in a separate trial earlier this year. She was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Since the case's dismissal, Baldwin has resumed his Hollywood career, returning to his old stomping grounds on Saturday Night Live in a variety of roles, including as Fox News host Bret Baier and former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He has also appeared on podcasts like Fail Better With David Duchovny, on which he recently alleged that "more s---" surrounding the Rust shooting will surface in "ensuing legal filings."

"There's more to come, but the more to come is now my effort, and it's going to be undeniably a successful effort to raise and to expose what really happened," Baldwin told Duchovny this month. "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."

One of Baldwin's upcoming projects will focus on his family with his wife, Hilaria Baldwin. A new reality show about their lives, The Baldwins, is set to premiere on TLC in 2025.