Case against Baldwin: lawyers call for prosecutor to be removed
You may know that actor Alec Baldwin has been charged with two counts of manslaughter for the accidental shooting that killed Galina Hutchins (who was killed) and Joel Souza (who was wounded). The main complaints against Baldwin are that he ignored gun safety training and was generally negligent in safety measures; in particular, for the scene that led to the tragedy, the actor generally had to use a dummy gun. Some lawyers question whether Baldwin's actions amounted to a crime, but that will ultimately be decided by a jury. I want to tell you about an interesting turn in the case that happened today.
The case against Baldwin and other members of the film crew was investigated by prosecutor Andrea Reeb, who during the investigation ran and was elected to the post of member of the New Mexico House of Representatives. Miss Reeb took up her new post on January 1, 23, and on January 3, she was appointed special prosecutor in order to continue to investigate the actor’s case and support the prosecution in court. The court accepted this appointment on February 3.
However, Baldwin's lawyers are now calling for the special prosecutor to be removed from the case because Article 3 of the state Constitution establishes the principle of separation of powers: "no person... vested with the rights of one of the branches of government shall exercise the rights of another branch of government." In the case of a special prosecutor, this principle is violated: the prosecutor exercises the powers of the executive branch, but is also a member of the state legislature.
The defense also points to a conflict of interest for the prosecutor, who requested funding for the investigation, including her own salary of 156 thousand dollars, and this money will be partially received after approval by the legislature.
Author: Igor Slabykh
