The New Mexico district attorney overseeing the prosecution of Alec Baldwin and Hannah Gutierrez-Reed in the Rust involuntary manslaughter case has stepped aside and handed the reins over to two Albuquerque-based private attorneys, her office said on Wednesday. Sante Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies’ departure comes after a judge ruled she could not appoint a special prosecutor in the case if she herself remained directly involved. She is the second ranking prosecutor to resign from the case this month, following previous special prosecutor Andrea Reeb, who recused herself after Baldwin’s attorneys challenged her appointment. “My responsibility to the people of the First Judicial District is greater than any one case, which is why I have chosen to appoint a special prosecutor in the ‘Rust’ case,” Carmack-Altwies said in a statement. Her successors “Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis will unflinchingly pursue justice in the death of Halyna Hutchins on behalf of the people of First Judicial District.”