Alec Baldwin's involuntary manslaughter case has been dismissed. Here's key things to know

A judge's surprise ruling has ended the prosecution of Alec Baldwin nearly three years after cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was shot and killed on the New Mexico set of the film “Rust."

The ruling, which came in the trial's fourth day, was a surprise end to case that had already been dropped once. The judge's ruling prevents Baldwin from being tried again.

Baldwin was charged with felony involuntary manslaughter and faced up to 18 months in prison if convicted

Baldwin, the star and co-producer of the Western, was pointing a revolver at Hutchins during a rehearsal in a small church on the movie set at Bonanza Creek Ranch in October 2021 when the gun went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer — but not the trigger — and the gun fired.

It has never been officially determined who brought the live rounds that killed Hutchins on to the set. Prosecutors at the previous trial of “Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed said she was responsible. She was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to the same 18 months in prison Baldwin faced.

Prosecutors had two alternative standards for proving the charge. One is based on the negligent use of a firearm. The other is proving beyond a reasonable doubt that Baldwin acted with total disregard or indifference for the safety of others.

Despite the legal and technical complexities of the case, the 12 citizens of Santa Fe County would have hadto reach just one verdict — guilty or not guilty — on a single count.

The trial at the First Judicial District Court of New Mexico — about 20 miles northeast of the movie set and the shooting — was projected to last nine days. It ended on its fourth day.

Baldwin, 66, emerged as a major movie star in the late 1980s and early ‘90s through films like “Beetlejuice” and “The Hunt for Red October,” and has remained a household name ever since. He would move on to memorable supporting roles in films including 2003’s “The Cooler,” which got him an Oscar nomination. Comedy dominated his later career as he won two Emmys for playing network executive Jack Donaghy on six seasons of “30 Rock,” and won a third for playing Donald Trump on “Saturday Night Live.”

He has also played the role of outsized public personality, as a cherished talk-show guest, a sought-after liberal, and at times as a man unable to control his outbursts of anger, which have brought public embarrassment and a previous run-in with the law much more minor than the current one.

Baldwin is the eldest of six children — five of them actors — from Massapequa, New York, who has lived in New York City for most of his adult life. He has an adult daughter, Ireland Baldwin, with his first wife Kim Basinger, and seven small children with his second wife, Hilaria Baldwin.

Santa Fe, New Mexico's capital, an arts mecca of 89,000 people and a tourist destination for its historic Southwestern beauty, is no small town. And its downtown modern legal complex is hardly a country courthouse. But the location is still a far cry from the coastal urban courts where the celebrity trials of Bill Cosby, O.J. Simpson, Harvey Weinstein and Donald Trump were held.

The proceedings could make for an unusual scene. Scores of members of the national media will compete for seats in the Santa Fe courtroom and an overflow room, and cameras will surround the courthouse for arrivals and departures.

And the public can watch. The trial will be streamed and broadcast by several outlets including Court TV.

Hutchins, who was 42 when she died, was a cinematographer on the rise and a mother of a young son when she was killed. She grew up on a remote Soviet military base and worked on documentary films in Eastern Europe before studying film in Los Angeles and embarking on a promising movie-making career.

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Actor Alec Baldwin reacts during his trial for involuntary manslaughter for the 2021 fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during filming of the Western movie "Rust," Friday, July 12, 2024, at Santa Fe County District Court in Santa Fe, N.M. The judge threw out the case against Baldwin in the middle of his trial and said it cannot be filed again. (Ramsay de Give/Pool Photo via AP)

FILE - A musician plays a violin behind a photograph of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a vigil in her honor in Albuquerque, N.M., Saturday, Oct. 23, 2021. A New Mexico judge is considering an array of restrictions on evidence, testimony and arguments ahead of a trial for Alec Baldwin. The Monday, July 8, 2024, pretrial hearing sets the stage for Baldwin to appear in court this week on a single charge of involuntary manslaughter in the death of a cinematographer. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton, File)

FILE - In this image taken from video released by the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office, Alec Baldwin speaks with investigators following a fatal shooting on a movie set in Santa Fe, N.M. A New Mexico judge is considering an array of restrictions on evidence, testimony and arguments ahead of a trial for Alec Baldwin. The Monday, July 8, 2024, pretrial hearing sets the stage for Baldwin to appear in court this week on a single charge of involuntary manslaughter in the death of a cinematographer. (Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office via AP, File)

FILE - Actor Alec Baldwin attends the premiere of "The Boss Baby" at AMC Loews Lincoln Square on Monday, March 20, 2017, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - This aerial photo shows the Bonanza Creek Ranch in Santa Fe, N.M, Oct. 23, 2021, used for the film "Rust." (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

FILE - Director Joel Souza testifies in the trial against Hannah Gutierrez-Reed in state district court in Santa Fe, N.M., on Friday, March 1, 2024. Gutierrez-Reed was working as the armorer on the movie "Rust" when actor Alec Baldwin fatally shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounded Souza. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal via AP, Pool/File)

FILE - Armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed stands by her defense team during her involuntary manslaughter trial, Tuesday, March 5, 2024, at the First Judicial District Courthouse in Santa Fe, N.M. A jury convicted Gutierrez-Reed of involuntary manslaughter on March 6, 2024, in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer by actor Alec Baldwin during a rehearsal on the set of the Western movie "Rust." (Jim Weber/Santa Fe New Mexican via AP, Pool, File)

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Supreme Court has denied the latest appeal by a man who has been on death row for 30 years after he was convicted of killing two college students.

The decision could clear the way for the state to set an execution date for Willie Jerome Manning, but his attorney said Tuesday that his legal team will seek a rehearing.

The court's majority wrote in a 5-4 ruling Monday that Manning “has had his days in court.” Dissenting justices wrote that a trial court should hold a hearing about a witness who wants to recant his testimony against Manning, 56, who has spent more than half his life in prison.

Manning's attorneys have filed multiple appeals since he was convicted in 1994 on two counts of capital murder in the December 1992 killings of Mississippi State University students Jon Steckler and Tiffany Miller. Their bodies were found in rural Oktibbeha County, and Miller’s car was missing. The car was found the next morning. Prosecutors said Manning was arrested after he tried to sell items belonging to the victims.

Krissy Nobile, Manning’s attorney and director of the Mississippi Office of Capital Post-Conviction Counsel, said Tuesday that the justices' majority ruling ignores "newly discovered evidence with the recantation of several key witnesses," including one who said in a sworn statement that she was paid $17,500 for fraudulent testimony.

“With the witness recantations and debunked forensic science, there is no evidence against Mr. Manning,” Nobile said. “There is no DNA, fibers, fingerprints, or other physical evidence linking Mr. Manning to the murders or the victims.”

Chief Justice Michael Randolph wrote the majority opinion rejecting Manning's request for a trial court hearing to determine whether witness Earl Jordan had lied.

“Petitioner has had more than a full measure of justice,” Randolph wrote of Manning. “Tiffany Miller and Jon Steckler have not. Their families have not. The citizens of Mississippi have not. Finality of justice is of great import in all cases.”

Nobile responded: “What measure of justice is served if the wrong man is put to death?”

Justice James Kitchens wrote the dissent.

“Today the Court perverts its function as an appellate court and makes factual determinations that belong squarely within the purview of the circuit court judge,” Kitchens wrote.

The Mississippi Supreme Court ruled decades ago that when a witness recants testimony, “the defendant/petitioner is entitled to an evidentiary hearing to determine whether the witness lied at trial or on his affidavit,” Kitchens wrote.

Manning has maintained his innocence and sought to have evidence in his case reexamined.

The latest appeal was based partly on Jordan saying he wanted to recant his testimony that while he and Manning were jailed together in Oktibbeha County, Manning had confessed to killing Steckler and Miller.

Jordan said in a sworn statement that he gave false testimony against Manning in hopes of himself receiving favorable treatment from Dolph Bryan, who was then sheriff of Oktibbeha County. Jordan wrote that he was “afraid to tell the truth” while Bryan was sheriff. Bryan left the job in January 2012.

In 2013, shortly before Manning was scheduled to be executed, the U.S. Justice Department said there had been errors in FBI agents’ testimony about ballistics tests and hair analysis in the case. Manning’s attorneys asked the Mississippi Supreme Court to stop the lethal injection, and justices voted 8-1 to delay the execution to allow the testing of evidence.

Manning’s attorneys asked an Oktibbeha County circuit judge for permission to send items to a more specialized lab. The judge denied that request, and the ruling was upheld by the Mississippi Supreme Court in 2022.

FILE - This April 2, 2019, booking photo provided by the Mississippi Department of Corrections shows death row inmate Willie Jerome Manning. (Mississippi Department of Corrections via AP, File)