Prosecutor who resigned from Alec Baldwin ‘Rust’ case says she wanted to resign

A special prosecutor who resigned from the manslaughter case against Alec Baldwin on Friday said she did so because she felt the case should have been voluntarily dismissed by the state.

Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer was to dismiss the case against Baldwin later that day, and she dismissed it “with prejudice,” meaning the charges cannot be refiled against the actor.

Baldwin, 66, faced a manslaughter charge in the accidental shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was killed in 2021 on a New Mexico set of the film “Rust” while Baldwin was holding a handgun intended for use as a prop. Gunsmith “Rust” Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was convicted in March of 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 bullets had not been turned over to the defense.

“It was clear that it was something that should have been reversed,” Ocampo Johnson told NBC News on Friday night.

Ocampo Johnson resigned on Friday and walked out of court before a hearing could even be completed on whether the evidentiary issue meant 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 “did not agree with the decision to hold a public hearing” — but Ocampo Johnson said she did not think a hearing should have been held at all.

“I believed the right decision would have been a dismissal,” Ocampo Johnson said.

Asked if there was resistance to this recommendation, Ocampo Johnson said: “I wouldn’t say ‘resistance’, but rather ‘move 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, turned over .45-caliber Colt cartridges to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office on March 6. March (the day of Gutierrez-Reed’s conviction).

Defense attorneys said they should have been informed about the rounds.

Morrissey argued that the disputed ammunition was neither connected to the case nor hidden from Baldwin’s lawyers.

“There is no reason to believe that the evidence we discussed in court today was related to the ‘Rust’ set,” 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 on Friday.

Ocampo Johnson said 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 as it should have been.”

Baldwin should know industry guidelines, which include never pointing firearms at people and always treating them as if they were loaded, Ocampo Johnson said.

“I believed in the case,” she said. “Because I believe – obviously there is a woman who was killed. There was some reckless behavior on set.”

But she said it was up to defense lawyers, not prosecutors, to decide whether the evidence was relevant to their defense or not.

Ocampo Johnson said he does not believe any evidence was purposely withheld.

“I don’t think it was intentional. I really don’t believe it,” she said. “I think it was just something that — it wasn’t delivered, and it should have been.”

After the Baldwin case was dismissed, Gutierrez-Reed’s attorney, Jason Bowles, said “we will move toward his immediate release.”

Ocampo Johnson was not involved in that prosecution and could not comment specifically on how Baldwin’s case might affect what Gutierrez-Reed’s defense attorneys do, but overall she doubted the disputed ammunition would help overturn his conviction.

“I don’t think it should have impacted her case, but it certainly should have been reversed in this case,” Ocampo Johnson said.