Special prosecutor steps down in Alec Baldwin shooting case

In a win for Alec Baldwin, the special prosecutor in the actor's Rust shooting case is stepping down.

Andrea Reeb said in a statement Tuesday she'll step aside from Baldwin's criminal case "so that the prosecution can focus on the evidence and the facts," The Associated Press reports.

Baldwin's legal team had been pushing to disqualify Reed, arguing that separation of powers prevent her from serving on the case while she is also a stage legislator.

"Doing so vests two core powers of different branches — legislating and prosecuting — in the same person and is thus barred by the plain language of Article III of the New Mexico Constitution," his attorneys said, Variety reports. "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."

In her statement, Reed said she would "not allow questions about my serving as a legislator and prosecutor to cloud the real issue at hand."

Baldwin pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter after he was charged in the death of Halyna Hutchins, the cinematographer who was killed on the set of the film Rust after a gun he was holding went off. In another win for the actor, a firearm enhancement to Baldwin's charge, which could have led to a mandatory five years in prison if he was found guilty, was previously dropped. Baldwin's lawyers said prosecutors "committed a basic legal error by charging Mr. Baldwin under a version of the firearm enhancement statute that did not exist on the date of the accident."

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