Phil Casaus: Money stops at DA but not Rust

January 21. Mary Carmack-Oltvis, the Santa Fe District Attorney, doesn’t mind sticking out her chin.

She did it in the plaza obelisk case two years ago, and she did it again last week when she made the decision to charge Alec Baldwin with manslaughter during the Rust disaster.

Notice I wrote the chin. When it comes to Rust, Carmack-Oltvis doesn’t show his neck in any way.

Blaming Baldwin might make you dizzy in Hollywood or Manhattan, but in Santa Fe, where the movie industry and its stars are often a coded yellow sign pointing at trucks, it’s not like she’s putting the prosecutor’s gavel on your next door neighbor or cousin. brother Sal. .

Or worse, lose a case involving the death of your next door neighbor or cousin Sal.

It was a safe move, because after all, when the DA is running for re-election – and I’m guessing Carmack-Oltvis wants to run again, she seems to enjoy the job – he or she usually wins or loses depending on whether how effective they are perceived to be in prosecuting crimes nearby.

I know. I don’t seem to care about Halina Hutchins, the victim of the shooting on the set of Rust. To be clear, her death is tragic, an industry indictment that should send a shudder on movie sets from here to Hollywood.

But neither Hutchins nor Baldwin lived here.

The sad fact is that in Santa Fe, Los Alamos and Rio Arriba counties, there have been and will be many more deaths in the years leading up to the next election cycle in 2024 – from shootings, stabbings, vehicles. I bet how these and other crimes play out will give a truer picture of how Carmack-Oltvis has run in office, and whether voters will keep her in the DA seat.

It’s clear that the potential trial against Baldwin is interesting and compelling: the allegedly highly paid actor’s defense team against the talents of Carmack-Oltvis and Special Counsel Andrea Reeb, who will lead the prosecution. The setting is already in the game.

Listen to Luke Nikas, Baldwin’s attorney:

The story goes on

“He [Baldwin] relied on the professionals he worked with who assured him that the gun was free of live ammunition, Nikas said on Thursday. “We will fight these accusations and win.”

It’s easy to say. Maybe it’s not so easy to do.

Carmack-Oltvis and Reeb will be the home team in any test, especially if the venue doesn’t change. Reeb is a formidable opponent. Based in Clovis, she won a guilty verdict in 2021 in the second trial of former Rio Arriba County Sheriff James Lujan, charged with aiding a criminal and intimidating a witness.

It wasn’t an easy feat, especially considering that the first round ended in a mistrial when the jury failed to reach an agreement amid the, shall we say, circus atmosphere at the Río Arriba County Courthouse on Tierra Amarilla.

Reeb, who left the Clovis district attorney’s office and is now a state legislator, didn’t blink at the retrial that played out in Santa Fe. And she won.

The prospect of a movie star trial, cable television’s dream, is juicy. After the shooting, Baldwin expressed regret at the tragedy, claiming that he did not pull the trigger on the gun that fired the fatal shot. I’m not a lawyer, but it could all come down to the FBI’s crime lab and the jury’s ability to connect with one or another group of lawyers.

A guilty verdict in this case will likely make prosecutors stars in the local legal community and possibly the city. But losing the case won’t be as devastating as you think, especially if the lawsuits don’t stumble into 2024 and the Democratic primary, where, if history is to be believed, there’s always a hungry, would-be district attorney.

In truth, Carmack-Oltwis’s decision to move the defendants who toppled the obelisk to the probation program worried many. In some ways, this was far more risky than blaming Baldwin or even losing the case. But could the obelisk dispute put her at risk of re-election? I doubt it. In today’s politics, it is usually about the latest things. The obelisk appeared in 2020.

Determining the worth of any elected official, especially the District Attorney, should not be based on a single case. This is daily efficiency, consistency, competence. It’s about how drunk driving is prosecuted. The point is whether the deadlines are met. It’s about skillfully prosecuting criminals in an area where – I think we can all agree on this – crime seems closer to home, now more than ever.

Intentionally or not, Carmack-Oltwis has once again stuck her chin out during her carefully choreographed media rounds following the announcement that she would file charges against Baldwin and Rust gunsmith Hannah Gutierrez-Reed.

“[Reeb and I are] co-counsel, but obviously I’m the district attorney, so the responsibility falls on me,” Carmack-Oltvis told The New Mexican’s Fedra Haywood.

It does.

But it won’t stop at Rust.

Phil Casaus is the editor of The New Mexican.

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