District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies speaks at a press conference after actor Alec Baldwin by accident shot and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of “Rust” in Santa Fe, New Mexico, October 27, 2021.
Adria Malcolm | Reuters
The New Mexico district attorney who oversaw the murder case on the set of Rust stepped down Wednesday and appointed new special prosecutors after weeks of upheaval and controversy over the case.
Actor Alec Baldwin and the film’s original armorer Hanna Gutierrez-Reed have been charged with involuntary manslaughter within the accidental fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of “Rust” in 2021. Each pleaded not guilty to the fees, which carry 18-month prison sentences.
Mary Carmack-Altwies, New Mexico’s first district attorney, appointed New Mexico lawyers Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis as special prosecutors. The move got here two weeks after former special prosecutor Andrea Reeb stepped down after Baldwin’s lawyers pushed for her removal, claiming her appointment was unconstitutional.
“My responsibility to the people of the First Judicial District is bigger than any single case, which is why I even have chosen to appoint a special prosecutor within the ‘Rust’ case,” Carmack-Altwies said in an announcement. “Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis will steadfastly pursue justice within the death of Halyna Hutchins on behalf of the people of the First Judicial District.”
Morrissey and Lewis told CNBC via email: “We won’t be making statements to the press presently. We want to give attention to preparing for the upcoming preliminary hearing.”
CNBC contacted Baldwin’s lawyers for comment. Jason Bowles, who represents Gutierrez-Reed, told CNBC by email that he had no comment “presently” regarding Carmack-Altwies’ resignation.
Earlier this week, New Mexico judge Mary Marlowe Sommer ruled that Carmack-Altwies cannot appoint a new special prosecutor unless the prosecution plans to drop the case entirely.
At Monday’s hearing, Carmack-Altwies said the district attorney’s office was in a “dire situation” as a consequence of staff shortages, which she said wouldn’t be alleviated by the “Rust” preliminary hearing, scheduled to start on May 3.
“We want additional manpower on this case in order that it doesn’t detract from pursuing all the opposite cases which are currently in our office,” Carmack-Altwies said on Monday.
The case is hampered from the beginning by complications related to the appointment of a special prosecutor.
Reeb, a former district attorney, was named special prosecutor before being elected to the New Mexico Legislature last fall. During Reeb’s tenure, the prosecution made various inflammatory statements concerning the defense, which critics called highly irregular and inappropriate.
Baldwin’s lawyers argued that the New Mexico structure forbade people from serving as each prosecutor and legislator at the identical time, as this could lead on to conflicts of interest.
Reeb stepped down on March 14, just over a month after Baldwin’s defenders submitted an application asking for it to be removed, which was signed by Gutierrez-Reed’s lawyers.
Initially, Reeb and the prosecution rejected the motion, calling it a “misconception” without “supporting New Mexico statutes and jurisprudence.” court documents.
Since stepping down, additional details have been revealed regarding Reeb’s dueling commitments. Recently, reported the New York Times that Reeb had hinted in a June 2022 email that working on the case might help her political profession.
Following this disclosure, Baldwin’s attorneys said in court filings last Tuesday that they now reserve the longer term right to argue, “Reeb has accused the case of advancing her political profession.”
Baldwin’s team didn’t oppose the appointment of a new special prosecutor. Gutierrez-Reed’s legal team, nevertheless, called for the motion to appoint a new special prosecutor to be rejected.
Ahead of Monday’s hearing, the New Mexico Supreme Court’s District Attorney’s office filed a letter from Gutierrez-Reed’s legal team calling for the applying to appoint a new special prosecutor to be rejected.
“The statute shouldn’t be intended to present district attorneys a taxpayer-funded extra ‘war box’ to prosecute cases involving ‘tall’ actors or individuals, increasing firepower but allowing the district attorney and her assistants to remain on the case,” Gutierrez-Reed’s lawyers said .