Alec Baldwin’s legal team says special prosecutor should be disqualified: filing

One week after Baldwin was formally charged for the fatal shooting on the set of the film “Rust,” the actor and his attorney are filing a motion that aims to disqualify special prosecutor Andrea Reeb from being involved in the court case.

Baldwin and set armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed were both charged with involuntary manslaughter over a year after the accidental shooting in October of 2021 resulted in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

Recent court documents showed that a gunshot was not even necessary for the particular scene they were filming. First assistant director David Halls has already agreed to plead guilty to negligent use of a deadly weapon in the case.

In the motion filed on Tuesday, Baldwin’s lawyers claimed that prosecutor Reeb’s positions as both a GOP lawmaker in the New Mexico House of Representatives and a special prosecutor are in direct conflict with New Mexico’s constitution.

Baldwin’s attorney, Luke Nikas, stated in his official motion, “Under Section 1 of Article III of the New Mexico Constitution … a sitting member of the Legislature may not ‘exercise any powers properly belonging’ to either the executive or judicial branch.”

Nikas claims her positioning also poses other ethical dilemmas.

“Were the arrangement here approved by the courts, future District Attorneys could seek to curry favor with legislators who control their budgets by appointing them to high-profile cases — distorting the legislative process,” Nikas argued.

While, on the surface, the motion could appear somewhat politically motivated — Baldwin has been known for his left-leaning ideologies and anti-Trump rhetoric while Reeb is a Republican lawmaker — the language in the court filing focuses solely on this constitutional argument.

In what is sure to be a highly scrutinized case and one that has already seen Baldwin offer several contradictory statements, Baldwin’s team has also requested a “speedy trial” and for all discovery material to be handed over to them to move the proceedings along as quickly as possible.

Baldwin and co-defendant Gutierrez Reed are set to make their initial court appearance on Feb. 24. The hearing is expected to be broadcast on the court’s YouTube channel.