By Brad Brooks

(Reuters) – A New Mexico criminal case against actor Alec Baldwin stemming from a fatal shooting on the set of his 2021 film “Rust” ended on Monday, with a prosecutor dropping his appeal the dismissal of the case.

Special Prosecutor Kari Morrissey withdrew that appeal, according to a statement from the Frist Judicial District Attorney’s office.

Baldwin’s lawyers, Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro, said in a statement that “today’s decision to dismiss the appeal is the final confirmation of what Alec Baldwin and his lawyers have been saying from the beginning – this is a It’s an unspeakable tragedy but Alec Baldwin committed no crime.”

A New Mexico judge dismissed involuntary manslaughter charges against Baldwin in July, agreeing with actor Morrissey’s lawyers and the sheriff’s office withholding evidence about the origin of the live round that killed the “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in 2021.

The district attorney’s office said it still strongly disagrees with the judge’s decision to toss the case against Baldwin.

But the decision to stop appealing that decision was made after the Attorney General’s Office told Morrissey that it “did not intend to fully pursue the appeal for prosecution,” according to the statement.

Hutchins died when Baldwin pointed a gun at him while they were setting up a camera shot at a movie theater near Santa Fe. The gun went off with a live round accidentally loaded by chief weapons handler Hannah Gutierrez. Gutierrez was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in March and sentenced a month later.

The “30 Rock” actor denied pulling the trigger and said he was ordered to point it at the camera. But the FBI and an independent firearms expert found that the gun would not fire unless the trigger was depressed.

Hutchins’ death was the first on-set fatal shooting with a live round mistaken for a dummy or blank round since Hollywood’s silent era, according to historian Alan Rode.

Hollywood on-set shootings have previously been settled through civil lawsuits, such as the last death in 1993 when Brandon Lee was killed when a blank round dislodged a bullet lodged in the barrel of a revolver during filming of “The Crow.”