Alec Baldwin’s legal team moves to disqualify special prosecutor overseeing ‘Rust’ case

By Chloe Melas and Josh Campbell, CNN

An attorney for actor Alec Baldwin filed a motion Tuesday to disqualify special prosecutor Andrea Reeb, who is overseeing the “Rust” shooting case.

The filing states that Reeb’s participation in the case is “unconstitutional” under New Mexico law due to her elected position in the New Mexico House of Representatives.

CNN has obtained the documents which were filed Tuesday in the First Judicial District Court of New Mexico.

“The special prosecutor in this case, Andrea Reeb, is a member of the New Mexico House of Representatives. Under Section 1 of Article III of the New Mexico Constitution, however, a sitting member of the Legislature may not ‘exercise any powers properly belonging’ to either the executive or judicial branch,” the motion states.

Baldwin’s motion argues that Reeb’s position constitutes a violation of the state constitution’s separation of powers provision and that she could “make prosecutorial decisions that serve her legislative interests.”

Last month, Baldwin was criminally charged in connection with the 2021 fatal shooting on the set of the movie “Rust.” The charges against Baldwin and the set’s armorer, Hannah Guiterrez Reed, included two counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

Attorneys for both defendants have insisted their respective clients are innocent.

On Tuesday, Heather Brewer, a spokeswoman for New Mexico’s First Judicial District Attorney’s office released a statement in response to the motion: “Mr. Baldwin and his attorneys can use whatever tactics they want to distract from the fact that Halyna Hutchins died because of more than mere negligence on the ‘Rust’ film set. However, the district attorney and the special prosecutor will remain focused on the evidence and on trying this case so that justice is served.”

In an interview in January, Reeb told CNN that her prosecutorial decisions were not impacted by politics.

“Everybody’s equal under the law. It doesn’t matter if he’s a liberal Democrat and I’m a conservative Republican,” she said. “My job has always been to prosecute crimes and hold defendants accountable and help victims. In this case it’s no different.”

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.