The Judge Dismissed Alec Baldwin's Involuntary Manslaughter Trial — Here's What Happened

The Alec Baldwin involuntary manslaughter trial was only in its third day when Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer shocked the court by dismissing all charges against the Rust actor and producer. Baldwin immediately broke down into tears as Judge Sommer read her decision. He then hugged both his attorneys and turned around to collapse into wife Hilaria Baldwin's arms. So, what does "dismissed with prejudice" mean in the Alec Baldwin trial? Here's what we know.

Earlier in the day, Baldwin's lawyers filed a motion to dismissed the case. According to CNN, they argued there was "misconduct by state investigators in not properly disclosing evidence in the case." The jury was sent home for the day when Judge Sommer had to consider whether or not the prosecution turned over all evidence in a proper manner.

The evidence in question is ammunition delivered to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office in March after Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the Rust armorer, was found guilty. Crime scene investigator Marissa Poppell testified that a retired police officer, and friend of Gutierrez-Reed's father, told authorities this ammunition might be related to the Rust incident. Poppell said they were then categorized separately and were never tested with the other Rust ammunition to see if they "matched the lethal round."

At this point, Baldwin's lawyers argued that this was grounds for dismissal, as they were never told about this ammunition which by all accounts was evidence. The state countered by saying investigators determined the ammunition did not match the other rounds from the Rust set and "had no evidentiary value to the case." Prosecutor Kari Morrissey called this a wild goose chase.

After Judge Sommer sent the jury home, she called Poppell back who, along with the witness, judge, and all attorneys, put on blue gloves in order to examine the ammunition. Like something out of Clue, they unsealed the envelope which contained the rounds and looked at them one-by-one, to determine if they were a match. It was decided that this evidence was concealed from the defense. The case was then dismissed with prejudice which means it has been permanently dismissed and cannot be brought in front of the same court again.