Major Shakeup in 'Rust' Trial with Court Set to Begin Within Weeks
What had been a three-person team of lawyers that will prosecute Alec Baldwin on charges of involuntary manslaughter is now down to two.
Prosecutor Jason Lewis has filed a motion to withdraw from the case, according to People.
The charge against Baldwin comes from the 2021 shooting on the set of the movie “Rust,” in which cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed after a gun Baldwin was holding was fired. The gun had a live round. Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, 26, the armorer for the film, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter last month and faces 18 months in prison.
The website Extra said that a filing from Baldwin’s team criticizing special prosecutor Kari Morrissey led to dissension among the team of prosecutors, causing Lewis to drop the case.
Morrissey issued a statement saying that claim was wrong, according to Fox News.
“I would like to know who would allege infighting. There has been no infighting. Mr. Lewis and I have been close friends for 25 years and there has been no infighting or significant disagreements,” Morrissey said.
“The Baldwin trial was set very quickly at the request of Mr. Baldwin. Mr. Lewis has obligations to another client between now and July that prohibit him from dedicating the appropriate amount of time to preparing for the Baldwin trial,” Morrissey said.
Morrissey said Lewis tried to balance his obligations, but could not do so.
“In fact, Mr. Lewis met with his other client prior to withdrawing from the Baldwin case to determine if adequate time could be carved out that would allow him to remain as counsel on the Baldwin case and still meet his obligations to his other client,” the statement said.
“Ultimately, Mr. Lewis made the difficult decision to withdraw so he can meet his obligations to his other client and Ms. Johnson has joined the team to substitute for Mr. Lewis,” the statement said, referring to Erlinda Johnson, who was added to the prosecution team on April 16.
Long before her appointment as a prosecutor, Johnson, identified by Fox News as a personal injury, wrongful death and civil rights attorney, had said in 2021 that Baldwin had some level of liability for Hutchins’ death.
“Whoever handles the firearm has a duty to check it for any live rounds,” she said then, according to People. “There’s a lot of civil liability here. It’s going to be a nightmare for [people involved with the movie].”
Baldwin’s lawyers are trying to get the case dropped, claiming information that would have cleared Baldwin was never given to the grand jury that indicted him, according to KOAT-TV. The motion to dismiss also said the prosecution tried to get witnesses to lie.
“They are saying, the whole case was twisted in its presentation to the grand jury,” KOAT legal expert John Day said. “Things that we wanted presented weren’t presented. Witnesses that we wanted to testify weren’t called.
“The prosecutors have responded by saying, look, we told the grand jury what’s out there,” Day said. “We said, do you want any of this information? They basically said, no, we have enough to indict.”
Day said those claims might not short-circuit the trial scheduled for July.
“I mean, judges are going to sift through these different allegations and counter allegations and so on,” Day said. “It’s rare for a court to toss a grand jury indictment or to dismiss charges. It remains to be seen what this judge does.”
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