What does dismissed with ‘prejudice’ mean? Alec Baldwin is free after trial

The trial of Alec Baldwin for involuntary manslaughter for the accidental killing of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was thrown out by Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer on Friday. She ruled that the state had improperly withheld evidence and dismissed the case with prejudice.

What does dismissed with prejudice mean?

Where a case is ‘dismissed’ this simply means the Judge has brought the trial to a close, however where the case is ‘dismissed with prejudice’ the Judge has ruled that the case is permanently dismissed and cannot be reopened.

Dismissal with prejudice means this the final judgement in the case and the charges cannot be refiled.

Judge Sommer ruled that the state had improperly concealed evidence that would have been favorable to Baldwin. “There is no way for the court to right this wrong,” said the Judge as she dismissed the case with prejudice.

The evidence in question was a set of live rounds of ammunition that, according to a witness, was filed in a different case file separate from the Rust file with special prosecutor Kari Morrissey being directly involved in that decision.

Does this mean Alec Baldwin was found not guilty?

Where a case is dismissed with prejudice that does not mean the defendant was found not guilty. That can only happen where the trial goes through all its stages and a final decision on guilt or not has been made after hearing all the evidence.

In this case the trial was halted early because of the Judge’s ruling and so no decision was made on guilt or not, however the effect is the same: Alec Baldwin has nothing to answer on these charges and the charges cannot be brought again, because the case was dismissed with prejudice.