Actor Alec Baldwin's criminal case has been dismissed after new evidence emerged that wasn't disclosed to the defense.

Baldwin was seen sobbing when the announcement was made.

"One of the two special prosecutors in the Alec Baldwin trial, prosecutor Erlindo Ocampo Johnson, resigned in the middle of a long, dramatic hearing in Santa Fe Friday over how police and prosecutors treated a handful of bullets," the Hollywood Reporter reported.

"The late discovery of this evidence has impacted the fundamental fairness of the proceedings. There is no way for the court to write this wrong. The sanction of dismissal is the only warranted remedy," said Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer.

Baldwin was facing up to 18 months in prison.