New Mexico’s district attorney overseeing the “Rust” shooting criminal prosecutions of Alec Baldwin and armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed has stepped down from the case, in the latest twist in the ongoing legal saga.
On Wednesday, 1st Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies announced that she had handed the prosecution of the high-profile case over to two seasoned New Mexico attorneys, Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis.
The pair will become special prosecutors in the “Rust” case, Carmack-Altwies’ office announced.
The embattled prosecutor faced a Friday deadline to come up with a plan after Gutierrez Reed’s Albuquerque-based attorneys challenged Carmack-Altwies’ request that she be allowed to appoint a special prosecutor and also stay involved in the high-profile case.
In a hearing Monday, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer indicated that she planned to deny Carmack-Altwies’ request.
Carmack-Altwies becomes the second ranking prosecutor to resign from the case that began after Baldwin accidentally shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of “Rust,” which was filming near Santa Fe, N.M.
The previous special prosecutor, Andrea Reeb, resigned this month amid controversy over her dual role as prosecutor and a member of the New Mexico Legislature. Baldwin’s attorneys had argued the Republican lawmaker’s involvement in the case was politically motivated. Baldwin, who famously lampooned former President Trump on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” is reviled in some conservative circles.
“My responsibility to the people of the First Judicial District is greater than any one case, which is why I have chosen to appoint a special prosecutor in the ‘Rust’ case,” Carmack-Altwies said in a statement. “Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis will unflinchingly pursue justice in the death of Halyna Hutchins on behalf of the people of First Judicial District.”
In late January, the Santa Fe prosecutor charged Baldwin and Gutierrez Reed with involuntary manslaughter in the October 2021 shooting death of Hutchins. Both Baldwin and Gutierrez Reed have pleaded not guilty.
Reeb’s resignation was a win for Baldwin and Gutierrez Reed. It left an enormous gap in the prosecution team just weeks before a pivotal May hearing. Both Carmack-Altwies and Reeb have participated in the case for months and conducted key interviews to strengthen the case for trial.
This is a developing story.
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