Alec Baldwin's Rust criminal case is officially over

This past July, in an apparent act of desperation, special prosecutor Kari Morrissey put herself on the stand and attempted to explain that her team didn't massively fuck up the criminal investigation into Alec Baldwin. This Hail Mary play—which came after her colleague quit in the middle of the day's court proceedings and while the Santa Fe sheriff and DA's offices faced scrutiny over the handling of the Rust shooting—was unsuccessful. The judge dismissed the case against Baldwin with prejudice. But Morrissey was undeterred and vowed to appeal. In October, the judge upheld her own dismissal, but Morrissey was undeterred and vowed to appeal. 

It seemed that Morrissey would never rest until she managed to hold Baldwin criminally responsible for the death of Halyna Hutchins. Yet in what could be described as a Christmas miracle (for Baldwin), Morrissey has finally given up her crusade. According to NBC News, on December 23 Morrissey withdrew the final appeal she filed in November. And even then, Morrissey made sure to note in her statement that she would have pursued the appeal to the bitter end, "however, the Office of the Attorney General notified the Special Prosecutor that the Attorney General did not intend to exhaustively pursue the appeal on behalf of the prosecution." As such, her office would have been met with "multiple barriers that have compromised its ability to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law."

Morrissey added in her statement, "We regret that Mr. Baldwin will not be held accountable for the role he played in the death of Halyna Hutchins and as we withdraw the appeal, we do so with the hope that the outstanding lawsuits bring some measure of justice to the family of Halyna Hutchins."

Following the appeal being dropped, Baldwin's attorneys Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro, gave a statement to CBS News saying, "Today's decision to dismiss the appeal is the final vindication of what Alec Baldwin and his attorneys have said from the beginning—this was an unspeakable tragedy but Alec Baldwin committed no crime. The rule of law remains intact in New Mexico."

This puts to an end Baldwin's years-long battle over criminal responsibility in the Rust case. But the Rust fallout is far from over. As Morrissey pointed out, there are still several civil suits in the works. Baldwin seems to welcome these legal challenges, recently saying that there is "more shit that’s going to come out in ensuing legal filings and so forth" and promising "to raise and to expose what really happened."