SANTA FE, NM — An attorney has been added to the special prosecution team that is pursuing an involuntary manslaughter charge against actor Alec Baldwin in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of the western film “Rust,” court officials confirmed Thursday.
The Santa Fe district attorney has named Erlinda Johnson as special prosecutor in the Baldwin case, which is scheduled for trial in July. She was sworn in on Tuesday.
Baldwin has pleaded not guilty to a charge of involuntary manslaughter in the killing of Halyna Hutchins during an October 2021 rehearsal at a filming ranch outside Santa Fe.
Baldwin, lead actor and co-producer of “Rust,” was pointing a gun at Hutchins during rehearsal when the gun went off, killing Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza.
Johnson’s experience as a criminal defense and personal injury lawyer includes representing former New Mexico Secretary of State Dianna Duran, who resigned from elected office in 2015 amid revelations that she used campaign funds to fuel her drug addiction. game. Duran received a 30-day prison sentence after pleading guilty to embezzlement and money laundering charges.
Johnson previously worked as a federal prosecutor on drug and organized crime investigations after serving as an assistant district attorney in the Albuquerque area.
Prosecutors are turning their full attention to Baldwin after a judge on Monday sentenced movie weapons supervisor Hannah Gutierrez-Reed to the maximum 18 months in prison in a state penitentiary for manslaughter in the death of Hutchins.
Prosecutors blamed Gutierrez-Reed for unwittingly bringing live ammunition onto the set of “Rust,” where it was expressly prohibited, and failing to follow basic gun safety protocols. She was convicted in March in a jury trial.
Baldwin’s defense attorneys are urging the judge to dismiss a grand jury indictment against their client, accusing prosecutors of “unfairly stacking the deck” in grand jury proceedings that diverted attention from exculpatory evidence and witnesses.
The special prosecutors deny these allegations and accuse Baldwin of “shameful” attempts to escape culpability, highlighting contradictions in Baldwin’s statements to authorities, workplace safety regulators and the public in a television interview.
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