Alec Baldwin Shares Emotional Embrace With Wife Hilaria in Court After Jury Suddenly Sent Home

Alec Baldwin had an emotional embrace with his wife Hilaria in court on Friday after the jury in his involuntary manslaughter trial was abruptly sent home.

The third day of proceedings came to a screeching halt after New Mexico Judge Marlowe Sommer said the court needed time to review a defense claim that prosecutors "buried" important evidence pertaining to the ammunition on the set of Rust.

Hilaria, who has been sitting right behind her husband in the Santa Fe courtroom all week, flashed a soft smile after the judge informed the jury of the sudden turn of events. During a recess, Alec sat beside his wife for a few moments and Hilaria clutched the actor's head in her hands as they whispered to one another.

Baldwin is charged with involuntary manslaughter stemming from the death of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a scene rehearsal in Santa Fe on October 21, 2021. A Colt .45 prop gun Baldwin was holding at the time unexpectedly fired a live round, striking Hutchins and the film's director, Joel Souza, who survived a shoulder injury.

At the center of the trial is the issue of how a live bullet, rather than a dummy round, made its way into the weapon — and why there were any live rounds on the movie set in the first place. On July 11, after testimony from crime scene technician Marissa Poppell, the defense filed a motion to dismiss the case on the grounds that prosecutors allegedly "concealed" evidence from Baldwin regarding the ammunition on set.

"Baldwin was unaware of a risk that live ammunition had been brought to the set of Rust," the actor's attorneys argued in the filing obtained by RadarOnline.com, "To support its theory that Baldwin should have known of that risk, the State is attempting to establish a link between Baldwin and the source of the live ammunition."

Baldwin's attorneys said prosecutors were relying on the assumption that "the live rounds were brought to the set by the movie's armorer," Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who was convicted in her own involuntary manslaughter trial over Hutchins' death in March.

But they said the state "concealed evidence potentially pointing to an external source of the live ammunition," referring to Rust prop firearm supplier Seth Kenney.

"Evidence that the live rounds came from Kenney is therefore favorable to Baldwin, which is why the State buried it," the defense argued.

After the jury was dismissed for the day, Kenney took the witness stand to testify about the ballistic evidence in the case, at Judge Sommer's request. The court will continue to hear the defense motion for the remainder of the day on Friday, and the jury will return to the courtroom on Monday.

Baldwin has pleaded not guilty, and maintains that he never actually pulled the trigger of the gun.