• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
Alec Baldwin asks for prosecutor in his involuntary manslaughter case to be disqualified because she is a Republican lawmaker

Home> Film & TV

Updated 07:58 8 Feb 2023 GMTPublished 07:41 8 Feb 2023 GMT

Alec Baldwin asks for prosecutor in his involuntary manslaughter case to be disqualified because she is a Republican lawmaker

Alec Baldwin's team have asked for Republican Andrea Reeb to be removed as a prosecutor in the case regarding Halyna Hutchins' shooting

Tom Wood

Tom Wood

Alec Baldwin has submitted documents to have the special prosecutor in his involuntary manslaughter case removed because she is a Republican lawmaker.

Baldwin was holding a gun containing live ammunition at the time Halyna Hutchins was fatally shot on the set of Rust back in October 2021.

The 42-year-old cinematographer and mother was killed after being struck by a bullet from the gun, which also injured the film’s director Joel Souza.

Prosecutor Andrea Reeb started proceedings last month with the sensational statement that Hutchins ‘would be alive today’ was it not for the actions of Baldwin and other people on the set of the film.

Advert

However, the 64-year-old actor has submitted a motion to the court requesting Reeb be removed from her position as special prosecutor because it is ‘unconstitutional’.

Alec Baldwin was holding the gun at the time Halyna Hutchins was killed.
ZUMA Press Inc./Alamy Stock Photo

The motion which was filed in the First Judicial Court of New Mexico - the state where the accidental shooting took place - argues that the appointment of Reeb violates the state’s constitution because she is an elected member of the New Mexico House of Representatives.

Reeb was appointed by district attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies to help her with the prosecution of the case.

Advert

The motion, submitted by Luke Nikas, a lawyer for Baldwin, reads: “Representative Reeb is not constitutionally permitted to serve simultaneously as a legislator and a special prosecutor.

“Doing so vests two core powers of different branches - legislating and prosecuting - in the same person and is thus barred by the plain language of Article III of the New Mexico Constitution.”

Baldwin was charged last month alongside the movie’s armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed.

They are accused of failing in following the protocols of safety on film sets in the lead up to Hutchins’ death.

Advert

Both defendants have said that they will fight the charges.

The gun - unbeknownst to Baldwin - was loaded at the time.
Zuma Press/Alamy Stock Photo

Reeb previously worked as a district attorney in New Mexico before she resigned in March 2022, and she was appointed to the Rust investigation last August before she was then elected to the state’s legislature in November.

At the time of her appointment she had already secured the nomination as the Republican candidate.

Advert

Last year, Carmack-Altweis wrote to the state’s officials stating that her office needed an ‘additional, more qualified attorney to assist in the prosecution of this matter,’ as the lawyers already on her staff have other cases to deal with and because of her responsibilities in handling the administration for the district attorney’s office, which covers three counties within the state.

Andrea Reeb.
ZUMA Press Inc./Alamy Stock Photo

Releasing a statement, Heather Brewer - a spokesperson for the prosecutors of the case - said Baldwin’s lawyers could ‘use whatever tactics they want to distract from the fact that Halyna Hutchins died because of gross negligence and a reckless disregard for safety on the Rust film set.’

The statement added: “However, the district attorney and the special prosecutor will remain focused on the evidence and on trying this case so that justice is served.”

Advert

Halyna Hutchins was killed in the incident.
MediaPunch Ltd/Alamy Stock Photo

In the motion, Nikas said that Reeb’s dual roles could lead to unethical conduct such as future prosecutors attempting to ‘curry favor’ with legislators - who have control over their budgets - by offering them prosecution roles in cases.

He added that such a situation has never arisen before in New Mexico ‘perhaps because no one has attempted such a facially unconstitutional action in this state’.

Baldwin is set for the first hearing in the case this month, and if found guilty he could face up to five years in prison.

Featured Image Credit: ZUMA Press, Inc. / Alamy

Topics: US News, Alec Baldwin, Celebrity, Crime

Tom Wood
Tom Wood

Tom Wood is a LADbible journalist and Twin Peaks enthusiast. Despite having a career in football cut short by a chronic lack of talent, he managed to obtain degrees from both the University of London and Salford. According to his French teacher, at the weekend he mostly likes to play football and go to the park with his brother. Contact Tom on [email protected]

X

@TPWagwim

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

14 hours ago
a day ago
  • 14 hours ago

    Fans rave over ‘addicting’ drama with a ‘pretty dark’ story that you can stream on Netflix right now

    The new Netflix drama released on the popular streaming platform last week

    Film & TV
  • a day ago

    Shocking true story of series where woman with terminal cancer divorces husband and sleeps with 200 men

    Molly Kochan was just 33 years old when she was diagnosed with cancer

    Film & TV
  • a day ago

    Fans urge Netflix subscribers to watch ‘underrated' sci-fi series with perfect RT score and three seasons to binge

    The 'underrated' sci-series debuted in 2016 before concluding in 2018

    Film & TV
  • a day ago

    TikTok users point out hilarious issue with Netflix documentary on 'biohacker’ who wants to live forever

    Bryan Johnson has made a name for himself in his attempts to live forever

    Film & TV
  • Alec Baldwin opens up about fatal Rust shooting in new reality TV show and admits he's 'happier when asleep'
  • Alec Baldwin’s wife admits she didn't 'understand’ what a prenup was before getting married
  • Alec Baldwin slaps protestor’s phone after she asks why he ‘killed that lady’
  • Alec Baldwin formally charged with involuntary manslaughter in Rust shooting