Alec Baldwin’s “Rust” shooting trial was dismissed Friday, after a judge ruled that prosecutors improperly withheld potential evidence from the defense team. The ruling was a shocking end to the Emmy Award-winning actor’s years-long effort to clear his name after a prop gun discharged in his hand on a film set in 2021, releasing a live bullet that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounded the film’s director.
Washington
Judge dismisses Alec Baldwin’s ‘Rust’ case, blaming prosecutor conduct
Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer said in her ruling that prosecutors had failed to properly inform defense lawyers of live ammunition in their possession, which may have been connected to the shooting. “The state’s woeful withholding of this information was intentional and deliberate,” she said.
The actor had been on trial for involuntary manslaughter since Tuesday, as prosecutors argued that his reckless handling of a prop gun on the set of the low-budget western made him responsible for fatal shooting.
Baldwin’s lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the case late Thursday, alleging that prosecutors hid evidence that could have helped determine the source of the live round found in Baldwin’s revolver, on a film set where only blanks were supposed to be used.
The potential evidence in question was a collection of rounds in the possession of Troy Teske, a friend of the “Rust” armorer’s stepfather, Thell Reed. Teske gave the live rounds to personnel at the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office earlier this year, after armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed’s involuntary manslaughter trial concluded with her conviction. The defense claimed that knowledge of the rounds had not been shared with them, despite their request to examine all ballistic evidence.
“The State is attempting to establish a link between Baldwin and the source of the live ammunition. The only way it can do that is by demonstrating that the live rounds were brought to the set by the movie’s armorer, given the State’s assertion that Baldwin should have been aware of her youth and inexperience and therefore the possibility that she brought live rounds to the set,” the defense team wrote in its motion. “The State not only failed to disclose the evidence—it affirmatively hid it under a file number that is unaffiliated with the Rust case.”
When the concerns were brought up in court on Friday, the judge donned a pair of blue gloves, cut open the manilla packet containing the ammunition and asked for a crime scene technician to identify each of the rounds. As Sommer questioned the technician, it was revealed that at least one of the bullets was similar to a dummy round found on the “Rust” set.
After the judge sent the jury home Friday to look into the matter, special prosecutor Kari Morrissey called herself as a witness, testifying that the ammunition in question did not match live ammunition collected from the “Rust” set, and had never been brought to New Mexico — let alone the film set — prior to the shooting.
The defense was aware of the ammunition in question, Morrissey argued, but the rounds weren’t formally presented to the defense team as evidence because they did not appear to match the rounds that were found on the set of the western. “This has no evidentiary value whatsoever,” she said.
But Sommer thought otherwise, and the judge excoriated the prosecution in her ruling.
“If this conduct does not rise to the level of bad faith, it certainly comes so near to bad faith as to show signs of scorching prejudice,” she said in her ruling. She said that Baldwin’s defense team should have been made aware of the ammunition earlier, and it was now too late for them to incorporate it into their defense. Therefore, not even the declaration of a mistrial could remedy the situation; the case had to be dismissed with prejudice — meaning Baldwin cannot be retried.
As Sommer began laying down her reasoning for dismissing the trial, Baldwin’s sister, Beth Keuchler, began sobbing in the stands.
The actor himself – who had for much of the proceedings maintained an unfazed and calm demeanor – put his face in his hands, then embraced his attorneys and wife. He later left court without taking questions from the dozens of reporters the case had drawn into New Mexico.
The dismissal marks the prosecutorial team’s second major misstep in Baldwin’s case. He was initially charged, along with the movie’s armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, of two counts of involuntary manslaughter in January 2023 — more than a year after the shooting. But about three months later, the charges against the actor were dropped after “new facts were revealed that demand further investigation and forensic analysis,” prosecutors said at the time, noting that the charges could be refiled.
In January, a grand jury indicted Baldwin with involuntary manslaughter once again, leading to the trial that was tossed out Friday.
William Triplett in New Mexico contributed to this report, which has been updated.
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Bellevue travels to Renton High School on Friday night for a nonleague matchup that pits two surging programs coming in on win streaks. The Wolverines (12-2) enter riding momentum from last season’s state quarterfinal appearance, while the Red Hawks (7-8) look to build consistency under head coach Rashaad Powell.
Head coach Warren King returns a deep senior class led by Jackson Skaggs, Max Harrity, Eduardo Molina, Kenny Shin, Trevin King and Nick Norrah. The Wolverines also feature junior Tayten Jones, giving them a balanced roster capable of competing with any team in the state.
The Red Hawks counter with their own weapons. Senior Isaac Elegan anchors the lineup, while junior scorer Sudan Luok provides offensive firepower. Junior co-captains Julius White-Kelly, Nick Jarvis and Jalen Taylor round out a core that has shown flashes this season.
Opening tipoff is set for 8 p.m. PT on Friday, January 16 with a live TV broadcast on NFHS Network.
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What: Wolverines, Red Hawks set for Friday night Showdown in Renton
When: Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. PT on Friday, January 16
Where: Renton High School | Renton, Washington
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WASHINGTON (AP) — National Guard troops will be on the streets of Washington, D.C., until the end of the year, according to a memo reviewed by The Associated Press.
The memo, signed by Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and dated Wednesday, said “the conditions of the mission” warranted an extension past the end of next month to continue supporting President Donald Trump’s “ongoing efforts to restore law and order.”
Meanwhile, Trump said this month that for now he was dropping his push to deploy National Guard troops in Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon, which had provoked legal challenges. He also backed off a bit Friday from his threat a day earlier to invoke the Insurrection Act to deploy troops to quell protests in Minnesota.
In Washington, troops have been charged with patrolling the streets and picking up trash. Trump has asserted repeatedly that crime has vanished in the city.
Two National Guard troops from West Virginia that were part of the mission in D.C. were shot the day before Thanksgiving. Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died from her injuries.
The National Guard has about 2,400 troops in Washington, with about 700 from D.C. and the rest from 11 states with Republican governors, including Indiana, South Carolina, Alabama and Oklahoma.
Washington
Skeletal remains that washed up on Washington beach identified as Oregon mayor who vanished 20 years ago
Skeletal remains that washed up on a Washington beach have been identified as those of a former Oregon mayor who vanished in 2006, ending a 20-year mystery with the help of genetic genealogy.
Edwin Asher, who previously was mayor of Fossil, Oregon, disappeared while he was crabbing in Tillamook Bay, on the northwest coast of Oregon, on Sept. 5, 2006, the Grays Harbor County coroner and Othram, a forensic genetic genealogy lab, said in news releases this week.
He was presumed to have drowned and was legally declared dead that same year, officials said.
In November 2006, skeletal remains washed ashore in Taholah, an unincorporated village on the Quinault Indian Reservation in Grays Harbor County, Washington, the coroner’s office said.
Taholah is about 124 miles north of Tillamook Bay.
The local sheriff’s and coroner’s offices responded and collected evidence.
It was determined the remains were those of a man estimated to 20 to 60 years old or older, 5 feet, 9 inches tall and an estimated 170 to 180 pounds.
However, the man was never identified, and he became known as the “Grays Harbor County John Doe (2006).”
Last year, the Grays Harbor Coroner’s Office and the King County medical examiner submitted forensic evidence to Othram to try to identify John Doe.
Scientists used genome sequencing to build a DNA profile for the man and genetic genealogy search to develop “new investigative leads.”
Investigators were led to potential relatives of the man, and reference DNA samples were collected from a relative and compared with those of John Doe.
Finally, it led to a positive identification: Grays Harbor John Doe was Clarence Edwin “Ed” Asher, born April 2, 1934.
He was 72 when he died.
Asher was born in Salem and raised in Astoria, and in 1952 he moved to Fossil, where he was a lineman technician for the Fossil Telephone Co. until he retired in 1995, according to his obituary. He also opened his own shop, Asher’s Variety Store, in 1965.
He loved antique cars, fishing and boating, the obituary said.
He had served as mayor and also volunteered as a local fireman and ambulance driver.
He was survived by his wife of over 20 years, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. NBC News has reached out to the city of Fossil for comment.
Forensic genetic genealogy has grown in popularity in recent years and has helped solve decades-old cold cases.
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