DA's Office appoints new special prosecutor for Baldwin trial

Apr. 18—District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies has appointed a third special prosecutor to help handle the pending criminal case against Rust star and producer Alec Baldwin.

Albuquerque attorney Erlinda Johnson confirmed in an email Thursday she'll work alongside previously appointed prosecutors Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis on the case.

Johnson has experience both as a prosecutor and as a defense attorney, "with over a decade of training as a Federal and State prosecutor followed by over a decade of criminal defense, civil rights and personal injury practice," according to her website.

The District Attorney's Office filed documents appointing Johnson on Tuesday afternoon, the day after state District Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer sentenced the film's former armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, to 18 months in prison for her role in the 2021 on-set shooting death of Halyna Hutchins.

Hutchins died in October 2021 after being struck by a bullet from a revolver Baldwin was using during the walkthrough of a scene at Bonanza Creek Ranch.

Baldwin, Gutierrez-Reed and the film's assistant director, David Halls, were charged in connection with Hutchins' death. Baldwin has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter in connection with the incident and is set to stand trial in July.

Halls — who testified during Gutierrez-Reed's trial he had failed to properly check the weapon before the scene — pleaded guilty last year to negligent use of a firearm and was sentenced to six months of probation as part of an agreement with the state.

Prosecutors presented evidence during Gutierrez-Reed's trial last month she inadvertently brought real bullets to the movie set south of Santa Fe and loaded one — rather than a dummy round — into the revolver used by Baldwin.

Jurors deliberated for less than three hours before convicting Gutierrez-Reed of involuntary manslaughter.

Authorities contend Baldwin pointed the revolver in the direction of the camera Hutchins was standing behind, cocked the gun and pulled the trigger. He has claimed he didn't pull the trigger, and the gun discharged on its own.

Morrissey and Lewis handled the prosecution of Gutierrez-Reed and also were appointed in January to prosecute the case against Baldwin.

Documents filed by the District Attorney's Office didn't state a reason for Johnson's appointment.

Johnson confirmed in an email she's been practicing law for over 28 years — 11 years of which she worked as a prosecutor — and said she's been in private practice since 2006.

She declined to answer any other questions, including one regarding how much she's being paid.

A spokesman for the First Judicial District Attorney's Office — which has requested and received hundreds of thousands of dollars of additional funding to prosecute the Rust defendants — also declined to say how much Johnson is being paid.

"Any and all questions regarding the Rust case, regardless of the substance of the inquiry, should be directed to special prosecutor Kari Morrissey," spokesman Nathan Lederman wrote in an email.

Morrissey did not respond to an email seeking comment.