A New Mexico judge has dismissed the involuntary manslaughter case against Alec Baldwin for the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust.

The occasion marks the second time the case against the actor has been dismissed. He will not be tried again over the October 2001 shooting.

"There are too many people who have supported me to thank just now," Baldwin wrote on social media on Saturday. "To all of you, you will never know how much I appreciate your kindness toward my family."

His lawyers claimed that police and prosecutors hid evidence in the form of a batch of bullets, which could have been connected to incident but were instead filed in a different case with a different number.

Prosecutors argued the ammunition had no relation to the case to the case and did not match bullets found on set of Rust set. Nonetheless, the judge ruled that the evidence should have been shared with Baldwin's team regardless.

"The state's wilful withholding of this information was intentional and deliberate," she said . "There is no way for the court to right this wrong."

 

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Halya Hutchins died after she was shot on the set of Rust three years ago, when live rounds were fired from a prop gun that Alec Baldwin was pointing in her direction.

The actor said he didn’t know the gun was loaded and that he didn’t pull the trigger. Live bullets are also banned from film sets, with Baldwin adding that it wasn’t his responsibility to check if the gun was loaded.

Earlier this year, the movie’s armorer Hannah Gutierrez was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 18 months in prison.

The case took place at the First Judicial District Court of New Mexico in Santa Fe - 20 miles northeast of the shooting. Filming of Rust was halted by Hutchins’ death, but eventually completed last year in Montana.