A special prosecutor who resigned from the manslaughter case against Alec Baldwin on Friday said she did so because she felt it should have been voluntarily dismissed by the state.
Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer would dismiss the case against Baldwin later that day, and she dismissed it “with prejudice,” meaning charges can’t be refiled against the actor.
Baldwin, 66, had faced a count of involuntary manslaughter in the accidental shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, killed in 2021 on a New Mexico set for the movie “Rust” as Baldwin held a revolver intended to be used as a prop. “Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was convicted in March on a count of involuntary manslaughter in the shooting and sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Special prosecutor Erlinda Ocampo Johnson, who gave an opening statement accusing Baldwin of being reckless, said she knew the prosecution’s case was in trouble Friday when she learned that some rounds had not been turned over to the defense.
“It was clear that it was something that should have been turned over,” Ocampo Johnson told NBC News Friday night.
Ocampo Johnson resigned Friday and walked out of court even before a hearing could be completed about whether the evidentiary issue meant that Baldwin’s case should be dismissed, as his lawyers argued.
Her fellow special prosecutor, Kari Morrissey, said in court that Ocampo Johnson resigned in part because she “didn’t agree with the decision to have a public hearing” — but Ocampo Johnson said she didn’t think a hearing should have been held at all.
“I believed that the right decision would have been a dismissal,” Ocampo Johnson said.
Asked if there was push-back to that recommendation, Ocampo Johnson said: “I wouldn’t say ‘push-back,’ it was ‘go forward with the case.’”
Baldwin’s attorneys asked the judge to dismiss the case after it was revealed that Troy Teske, a former police officer and friend of Gutierrez-Reed’s stepfather, delivered Colt .45-caliber rounds to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office on March 6 (the day of Gutierrez-Reed’s conviction).
Defense attorneys said they should have been told about the rounds.
Morrissey argued that the disputed ammunition was not linked to the case or hidden from Baldwin’s lawyers.
“There is no reason to believe that the evidence that we discussed in court today was related to the set of ‘Rust,’” Morrissey said after the case was dismissed. She said she disagreed with the judge’s decision but respected it.
Morrissey did not immediately respond to requests for additional comment on the case Friday.
Ocampo Johnson said that she believed in the criminal case against Baldwin, and was prepared to show evidence that days before Hutchins was killed video showed the firearm “was not handled the way it should have been.”
Baldwin should have known industry guidelines, which include never pointing firearms at people and to always treat them as if they are loaded, Ocampo Johnson said.
“I believed in the case,” she said. “Because I do believe — obviously there’s a woman who was killed. There was some reckless behavior on the set.”
But she said it is up to defense attorneys, and not prosecutors, to decide if evidence is relevant to their defense or not.
Ocampo Johnson said she does not believe any evidence was withheld on purpose.
“I don’t think it was intentional. I really do not believe that,” she said. “I think it was just something that — it wasn’t turned over, and it should have been.”
After the Baldwin case was thrown out, Gutierrez-Reed’s attorney Jason Bowles said that “we will be moving for her immediate release.”
Ocampo Johnson was not involved in that prosecution, and couldn’t comment specifically how Baldwin’s case might affect what Gutierrez-Reed’s defense attorneys do, but broadly she doubted if the disputed ammunition would help in overturning her conviction.
“I don’t think it should impact her case, but it certainly should have been turned over in this case,” Ocampo Johnson said.
Sumiko Moots and Gisele Lamarre contributed.
