Judge Makes Right Call Dismissing Alec Baldwin's Involuntary Manslaughter Case

In a surprising twist, a Santa Fe judge dismissed the involuntary manslaughter case against Alec Baldwin on Friday for the fatal shooting of Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film "Rust" after ruling that the prosecution concealed evidence from his legal team.

"The state's willful withholding of this information was intentional and deliberate," Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer said. "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."

"There is no way for the court to right this wrong," the judge concluded, as Baldwin wept in shock and joy.

Defense attorney Luke Nikas opened the third day of the trial by accusing the state of withholding evidence that prop distributor Seth Kenney was the source of the live ammunition.

"Baldwin’s lawyers asserted that the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office took possession of live rounds of ammunition as evidence but did not record them in the official case file or reveal their existence to the actor’s defense team," NBC News reports.

The accusation prompted Judge Sommer to send the jury home so she could hold an 11th-hour hearing, leading to prosecutor Kari Morrissey calling herself as a witness.

"I decided not to take any steps to collect this ammunition because it was in Arizona, had never come to New Mexico and didn't match the live rounds on the set of ‘Rust,'" Morrissey testified.

Armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed was previously convicted of loading a live round into a revolver, which Baldwin fired, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.

"During Reed's trial on March 6, retired police officer Troy Teske, a family friend of Gutierrez Reed's father, walked into the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office and delivered a collection of rounds to crime scene technician Marissa Poppell," Fox News Digital said Friday. "He said the rounds came from Kenney and matched the bullet that killed Hutchins."

Say what you will about Baldwin and his nauseating politics, the judge made the right call after she learned of the withheld evidence. The state sought to make an example of Baldwin because he's famous. That is not how the American justice system was designed to operate.

The judge dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning the charge cannot be brought against the actor again.