Baldwin attorneys excuse District Judge Ellington

Feb. 8—Alec Baldwin's legal team has excused state District Judge T. Glenn Ellington from presiding over the criminal case in which he actor is charged with involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

The case has been reassigned to Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer, who also is presiding over the case against Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed. She faces the same fourth-degree felony charge in connection with Hutchins' death.

Per state law, each party in a pending criminal case has the right to preemptively excuse one judge from hearing the matter for any or no reason, as long as the excusal is requested within specific time frames and before the assigned judge has exercised any judicial discretion.

The party seeking to excuse the judge is not obligated to provide a reason for the excusal, and none was given in the notice involving Ellington, which Baldwin's attorneys filed Monday.

Albuquerque attorney Heather LeBlanc — who is working with the Luke Nikas and several other attorneys from a New York-based law firm on Baldwin's defense — declined to comment on the litigation Thursday.

Ellington had scheduled the case against Baldwin to go to trial in August, but that date and others he set have been canceled and not yet reset, according to online court records.

Prosecutors and defense counsel have since filed a request for hearing asking the court to set a hearing to discuss the scheduling of the case.

Hutchins, 42, died after being struck by a bullet that came from the gun Baldwin wielded during a rehearsal at a movie ranch south of Santa Fe in 2021.

Prosecutors have said it appears live rounds were intermingled with dummy rounds on set, and Gutierrez-Reed loaded one into the revolver Baldwin was handling in the scene. The weapon later was handed to him by assistant director David Halls, who reportedly called out "cold gun," indicating the pistol had no live ammunition.

Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey has said Halls — who pleaded no contest in March to a charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon in connection with the shooting — did not check the gun to ensure every round was indeed a dummy round.

Gutierrez-Reed is scheduled to stand trial later this month.