By Andrew Hay
(Reuters) -The New Mexico district attorney overseeing the case in which a cinematographer was fatally shot on the “Rust” movie set on Wednesday named two new special prosecutors and said she would follow a judge’s order that she step down as a prosecutor.
First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies named New Mexico attorneys Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis to serve as special prosecutors in the 2021 shooting death of “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, according to a statement from her office.
Actor Alec Baldwin and the movie’s set armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, were charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter in the case. Baldwin has pleaded not guilty to an involuntary manslaughter charge and Gutierrez-Reed is expected to do the same.
Hutchins was killed and “Rust” director Joel Souza injured when a revolver Baldwin was rehearsing with fired a live round.
The previous special prosecutor Andrea Reeb, a Republican state representative, stepped down on March 15 after lawyers for Baldwin argued it was unlawful for her to serve as a member of the state judiciary and legislature at the same time.
Carmack-Altwies said she would step aside from prosecuting the “Rust” case after district court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer on Monday ruled she could not serve as a co-prosecutor alongside a special prosecutor.
(Reporting By Andrew Hay in Taos, New Mexico; Editing by Leslie Adler and Cynthia Osterman)
