(News Nation) — Erlinda Johnson, the special prosecutor in Alec Baldwin’s “Lust” trial who abruptly resigned from the case on Friday, is arguing that Baldwin “may have been reckless” when he “messed around” with a gun on set.
“Based on the evidence that I was aware of and that I saw when I joined this case, there was a lot of footage from the scene that showed that Mr. Baldwin was, unfortunately, messing around with this gun,” Johnson said in an appearance on NewsNation on Friday night.Cuomo“It’s a real gun. You don’t do that with a real gun.”
Baldwin’s lawyers said in court Friday that prosecutors suppressed information about a good Samaritan who delivered ammunition to police after the trial of “Lust” weapons manufacturer Hannah Gutierrez Reed — exculpatory evidence that could have linked the film’s weapons supplier, Seth Kenney, to live ammunition found on the set.
Mr Johnson revealed the reason for his resignation: “The reason I resigned is because the public found out about this evidence late yesterday afternoon.”
She continued, “I had no knowledge that this individual was bringing ammunition into the sheriff’s office and handing it over to officers. … As prosecutors, we have an obligation, not only to the public, but to the defendant. … We do not have the right to dictate what the defense does.”
Setting aside the state’s handling of the evidence, Johnson said of Baldwin’s actions, “There’s no question to me that he had no intention of doing this. But the question is, ‘Was he knowingly reckless?’ That’s why I believe this case.”
Following Johnson’s resignation, the judge dismissed the manslaughter case against Baldwin, who had been charged in connection with the on-set death of “Lust” cinematographer Halina Hutchins in 2021. He was seen crying in his courtroom seat after the dismissal.
Prosecutor Kari Morrissey announced Friday that after taking the stand in her own defense, Johnson had abruptly resigned after objecting to the motion hearing being made public.
Gov. Chris Cuomo called Johnson’s decision to withdraw from the lawsuit a “courageous act.”
Attorney Mark Geragos, who discussed the case with CUOMO, said Morrissey “should be defrocked.”
“How badly did the other prosecutor behave? … I’ve never seen anything worse,” Geragos said.
Jurors in the actor’s trial were sent home for the weekend while the prosecution and defense argued for the case to be dismissed.
During rehearsals for the film “Lust,” Baldwin used a gun loaded with dummy bullets.Allegedly aimed at the cameraThe shooting left Hutchins dead and director Joel Souza wounded.
The actor claims he did not pull the trigger and that the shot fired accidentally, but FBI analysts who examined the gun disputed this.
Kenney has not been charged with any wrongdoing, and police and prosecutors have said there is no evidence he used live ammunition on the set of “The Last.” The defense said they did not know if the evidence showed live ammunition, but argued that “the state has the evidence and it can be disclosed.”
“If this evidence wasn’t as important as we say it is, they would have presented it,” attorney Luke Nikas said.
But Morrissey, on behalf of the state, argued there was “no breach of duty.” Prosecutors say the ammunition was not connected to the incident and was not concealed.
Gutierrez Reed, who was in charge of documenting the weapons used in the film, was convicted of manslaughter earlier this year and sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Prosecutors argued that Gutierrez-Reed was negligent because she didn’t realize that the boxes of dummy bullets contained live ammunition, while her lawyers say she was made a scapegoat by others working on the film, who they argued neglected to secure the set and didn’t hold enough safety meetings.
It remains unclear how live ammunition got to the scene of the shooting, but prosecutors said photos found on Gutierrez-Reed’s phone implicate her in the crime.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
