Special Prosecutors (Independent Counsel)

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    Prosecutor Says Manslaughter Case Against Alec Baldwin Should Be Revived

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    The special prosecutor asked a judge in New Mexico to reconsider her decision to toss the charge against the actor during his trial.A prosecutor who oversaw the involuntary manslaughter case against Alec Baldwin has asked a judge in New Mexico to reconsider her dismissal of the charge during the trial.The judge tossed out the case in July after finding that the state had withheld evidence that could have shed light on how live rounds got onto a film set where a cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, was fatally shot. The judge dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning that it could not be refiled, ending the prosecution of Mr. Baldwin.But in court papers filed on Friday, Kari T. Morrissey, the special prosecutor, sought to persuade Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer to change her mind, arguing that the evidence in question — a batch of rounds brought to law enforcement this year — was irrelevant to whether Mr. Baldwin was criminally culpable for pointing the gun on set that day.“Nothing about the details of how the live rounds were introduced to the set is relevant or material to the charges against Mr. Baldwin,” Ms. Morrissey wrote in the court papers, later writing, “there was no cover-up because there was nothing to cover up.”The dramatic dismissal of the case against Mr. Baldwin prompted the movie’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, to ask for a new trial; she was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in March and sentenced to 18 months in prison.It was the third day of Mr. Baldwin’s manslaughter trial at the Santa Fe County District Courthouse when his lawyers sought the dismissal of the case over the state’s failure to provide it with live ammunition that came from a man named Troy Teske, a friend of Ms. Gutierrez-Reed’s stepfather, Thell Reed, who is a well-known Hollywood armorer.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Prosecutor Behind ‘Rust’ Charges Steps Aside, Appointing Replacements

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      The involuntary manslaughter case against Alec Baldwin has suffered setbacks, and now the district attorney has withdrawn from the case and named two special prosecutors.The district attorney who brought involuntary manslaughter charges against Alec Baldwin in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the “Rust” film set in New Mexico is stepping away from the case, her office announced Wednesday, as she named two new special prosecutors to handle the case.The district attorney of Santa Fe County, Mary Carmack-Altwies, had been the face of the prosecution since the beginning. But in recent weeks the case has faced a couple of setbacks: Prosecutors downgraded the charges Mr. Baldwin faces after his lawyers noted that the law he was initially charged under was not passed until after the fatal shooting, and the special prosecutor who was originally named to help with the case, Andrea Reeb, decided to step down after her appointment was challenged in court.The appointment of Ms. Reeb was initially challenged by lawyers for Mr. Baldwin, who argued that it violated the New Mexico Constitution for her to serve as a special prosecutor and a New Mexico legislator at the same time. (She was also an elected member of the state’s House of Representatives.)A lawyer for Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the original armorer on the film “Rust,” who was also charged with involuntary manslaughter in the fatal Oct. 21, 2021, shooting of the cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, then raised another issue.The lawyer, Jason Bowles, argued that if Ms. Carmack-Altwies — who had said she needed help prosecuting such a high-profile case — wanted to appoint a new special prosecutor, the law required her to recuse herself from the case entirely. The judge hearing the case agreed, and Ms. Carmack-Altwies was left with the choice to either hire legal help and stay on the case or step back from it and let a new special prosecutor act.She chose to step back, announcing on Wednesday that she would be appointing two New Mexico lawyers, Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis, as special prosecutors.“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,” Ms. Carmack-Altwies said in a statement. “Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis will unflinchingly pursue justice in the death of Halyna Hutchins.”Now, the case will move forward without either of the prosecutors who made the decision to charge Mr. Baldwin and Ms. Gutierrez-Reed with involuntary manslaughter, and who reached a plea deal with Dave Halls, the movie’s first assistant director, who had oversight of safety on set. More