Alec Baldwin Spends Christmas With Family After 'Rust' Prosecutor Closes Criminal Case

Actor Alec Baldwin got the best Christmas gift of all this year: spending the holiday with his wife, Hilaria Baldwin, and his seven children without worrying about whether he will be facing jail time.

The "30 Rock" actor was facing 18 months behind bars due to an involuntary manslaughter charge stemming from the accidental shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of "Rust" in October 2021. Only a few days before Christmas, Santa Fe prosecutor Kari Morrissey dropped the criminal charges against him. A judge had dismissed the charges in July with prejudice after determining that the prosecution had failed to turn over relevant evidence to the actor's defense team.

On Christmas day, his wife, Hilaria Baldwin, shared a photo of the family gathered around the Christmas tree. The whole family is wearing matching red-and-black festive pajamas, except for Alec, who is barefoot as he sits in a black long-sleeve shirt and black slacks.

“Merry Christmas and much love to you all. Mucho amor…feliz Navidad,” Hilaria wrote in the caption along with a red heart emoji. The former yoga instructor has monitored comments on her Instagram page since the “Rust” shooting happened over three years ago, which meant that the comments were nothing but positive as fans and friends wished her happy holidays.

“Merry Christmas to all of you! Wishing for 2025 to be filled with abundance, peace, and happiness and for all your desires to come to fruition!” one fan commented. “Thank you for sharing your family, your wisdom, and your kindness! You bring a happy positivity to this world!”

Although the “Supercell” actor does not monitor comments on his Instagram page, the comments were also mostly full of holiday well-wishes as he shared a video of his son Edu drinking from a glass. The holiday shirt looks to be a different style than the one he was wearing in the group photo, although various children can be seen wearing matching pajamas in the background of the video.

“Merry Christmas,” Alec wrote in the caption of the video.

Although most of the comments wished the actor a Merry Christmas, one user seemed to take the actor to task for his parenting skills, writing, “I’d never let my kids drink water with ice cubes, oh well.”

“The Hunt For Red October” actor’s legal struggles are finally over. Although he is still facing several civil lawsuits from Halyna Hutchins’ family and other cast and crew members, he no longer has to worry about facing jail time for the accidental fatal shooting of Halyna Hutchins on the set of the Western film in October 2021.

On December 23, a press release confirmed that special prosecutor Kari Morrissey had dropped the notice of appeal that she had filed on November 21 while trying to revive the criminal charges against Baldwin that the judge had already dismissed.

The press release states that "The Special Prosecutor intended to pursue an appeal of the dismissal, 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.”

The State insisted that it “strongly disagrees” with the court’s decision to dismiss the involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin and denied concealing evidence, which is what ultimately led to the charges being dismissed.

“This has always been about seeking justice for Halyna Hutchins," Morrisey said in a statement, per the release. "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.”

In their own statement released on Christmas Eve, Baldwin’s legal team said, "Yesterday'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."

On Christmas Eve, attorney Gloria Allred, who represents Hutchins’ mother, father, and sister in a civil lawsuit against Alec Baldwin and other “Rust” producers, released a statement insisting that no justice was served and that “The Grinch” won this Christmas.

"There was no justice because a jury couldn't hear the evidence," Allred said at a news conference held in Los Angeles, insisting that Baldwin “was responsible, and he is responsible.”

"It's not over until it's over, and it's not over yet," Allred said. "Although the attorney general of New Mexico, Raúl Torrez, is the Grinch who stole this Christmas, we will work to ensure that a future Christmas will be without this Grinch."