New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies announced on Wednesday that attorneys Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis will take over as special prosecutors on the “Rust” involuntary manslaughter case against Alec Baldwin and Hannah Gutierrez-Reed.
“With the appointment of new special prosecutors, Carmack-Altwies will step aside from personally prosecuting the ‘Rust’ case, allowing her to focus on the broader public safety needs in New Mexico’s First Judicial District,” read a statement from the DA’s office. “Carmack-Altwies will continue her record of prosecuting drunken drivers, collaborating with local law enforcement, increasing diversion efforts and securing convictions against the most dangerous and prolific offenders.”
The appointment of Morrissey and Lewis comes a day after Carmack-Altwies was denied her request to select a new special prosecutor alongside an assistant district attorney from her office to prosecute the “Rust” case. Judge Mary Marlowe Summer ruled that the DA’s office had to choose to either prosecute the case itself or recuse itself entirely and select a special prosecutor as a replacement.
The special prosecutors will now handle the case against Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed, who each face a charge of involuntary manslaughter in connection to the accidental death of “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. A conviction brings a potential prison sentence of up to 18 months.
Morrissey and Lewis will replace previous special prosecutor Andrea Reeb, who stepped down earlier this month after her position on the case was challenged by Baldwin’s attorneys, who argued that the state constitution barred her from prosecuting the case as Reeb had just been elected to the New Mexico House of Representatives.
Reeb also was criticized for filing enhancement charges against Baldwin, which could have raised his maximum potential prison sentence if convicted from 18 months to five years, but was added to the state’s penal code after Hutchins’ death occurred and therefore could not be applied. The enhancement charge was dropped last month.
Reeb stepped down from the case on March 14, saying that she did not want her decisions as prosecutor to distract from the case. Last week, the New York Times uncovered emails in which Reeb asked Carmack-Altwies if she could publicly announce her hiring as special prosecutor to help give her a boost in her state legislature election.
A two-week pretrial hearing for the “Rust” case is set to begin on May 3.
