“Remnant”: The Santa Fe District Attorney’s Office withdraws from the case and appoints two special prosecutors

Two days after a judge halted prosecutors’ efforts to hire a new special prosecutor rust In the shooting, Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies stepped aside and assigned two special prosecutors — veteran New Mexico attorneys Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis — to the high-profile case.

“My responsibility to the people of the First Circuit is greater than any case, and that is why I chose to appoint a special prosecutor. rust Val,” Carmack-Altwies said in a statement today. “Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis will be steadfast in the administration of justice on behalf of the people of the First Circuit in the death of Halyna Hutchins.”

Heather Brewer, a spokeswoman for the First New Mexico Judicial District Attorney, said in a statement:

New Mexico Chief District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies on Wednesday appointed longtime New Mexico attorneys Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis as special prosecutors in the ‘Rust’ case. Morrissey and Lewis’ extensive litigation experience and expertise enables the state to achieve justice for Halyna Hutchins and ensure that everyone in New Mexico is held accountable before the law.

“With the appointment of new special prosecutors, Carmack-Altwies will step away from personal prosecution of the ‘Rust’ case and allow her to focus on the broader public safety needs of New Mexico’s First Circuit. Carmack-Altwies will continue his track record of prosecuting drunk drivers, working with local law enforcement, increasing diversion efforts and securing convictions for the most dangerous and prolific offenders.

As Deadline recently told you, the district attorney’s resignation was on the cards. Under a Land of Enchantment statute, prosecutors could bring a private attorney on board to help with contract cases — and that’s exactly what happened here.

Two days ago, the struggling prosecutor, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer, asked: “We need extra manpower in this case… All the money in the world is not going to help prosecute a case if we can’t get the bodies in our office don’t get ” Can be found. That’s because Carmack-Altwies has lost nearly a third of his prosecution team in recent years.

“So we have to be able to look for people outside our offices. It is our good reason that we do not have enough manpower to pursue it fully ourselves. “Bringing in a special prosecutor helps by taking some of the prosecutor’s burden,” Carmack-Altwies said two days ago.

More prosecutor losses in crusade against Alec Baldwin and ex-rust Gunsmith Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the elected officer, lost a Feb. 24 bid to block Reed’s request to keep a gun at her home in self-defense. There has also been a drop in gun charges this past month due to the pending case and the loss of embattled special prosecutor Andrea Reeb earlier this month.

More than a year after the murder of DP Halynia Hutchins rust Baldwin and Reed were charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter in late January following the Oct. 21, 2021, tragedy. Under the current charges, after the five-year prison sentence related to the firearms enhancement is waived, Baldwin and Reed face up to 18 months in prison and face about $5,000 in fines if convicted by a jury. Both pleaded not guilty.