Alec Baldwin's lawsuit against Santa Fe prosecutors dismissed by federal judge

In 2025 the actor filed a lawsuit for violation of civil rights, claiming that he had been the victim of instrumental judicial persecution. However, a federal judge has now ruled that Santa Fe prosecutors enjoy immunity

On September 30, 2026, a federal judge dismissed most of the civil rights lawsuit Alec Baldwin had filed against Santa Fe prosecutors in the Rust movie case, since they have immunity from prosecution.

In 2025 the actor sued them, claiming that he had been the victim of instrumental judicial persecution for the initiation of criminal proceedings against him with the unjust aim of convicting him of having accidentally shot and killed the director of photography Halyna Hutchins in 2021.

In her ruling issued on September 30, 2026, Judge Kea Riggs ruled that although the allegations of misconduct paint a “very disturbing picture,” Kari Morrissey and the other prosecutors involved in the case still enjoy immunity.

“Sometimes, it is better to let wrongs committed by an allegedly dishonest prosecutor go unpunished than to subject those who seek to do their duty to the constant fear of retaliation,” Riggs wrote. "This is one of those cases. The doctrine of absolute prosecutorial immunity is only useful when applied to difficult cases, occasionally protecting acts of serious misconduct."

THE JUDICIAL MATTER

Alec Baldwin had claimed that prosecutors had intentionally withheld evidence that would have otherwise exonerated him, thus seeking to indict him for political gain.

Specifically, the actor had alleged that the Santa Fe District Attorney, Mary Carmack-Altwies, and the special prosecutor, Kari Morrissey, had manipulated evidence and obtained false testimony with the aim of placing blame on him and convicting him.

Baldwin had therefore presented his complaint after the abrupt conclusion of the trial against him for manslaughter, which took place in July 2024.

As it emerged at the time, a former Arizona police officer, Troy Teske, had delivered a set of ammunition to the Santa Fe Sheriff's Department which, however, had not been recorded in the inventory in the Rust case, resulting in the withholding of the evidence.

The judge later ruled that the prosecution had "intentionally and deliberately withheld" key evidence from the defence.

THE IMMUNITY OF PROSECUTORS

In 2025, after a long period of inactivity, a state judge initially rejected the plaintiff's lawsuit.

Subsequently, however, the case was refiled and finally transferred to federal court. The State then in turn presented a series of requests to dismiss the case by invoking immunity.

Although prosecutors are generally exempt from civil liability, they can still be sued for misconduct when acting as investigators.

As the Court has now stated, absolute prosecutorial immunity covers the fact that Special Prosecutor Kari Morrissey withheld analyzes of the firearms (one of which reported the presence of unexplained object marks on the trigger mechanism of the fired weapon), failed to disclose evidence, and gave false testimony at trial.

Therefore, while recognizing the validity of the charges against "dishonest or malicious government officials", Judge Kea Riggs reiterated the priority of the correct functioning of the judicial system.

“Accordingly, any claims based on these allegations survive this phase of litigation,” he wrote.