Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies announced that she is stepping away from the “Rust” shooting case this week. The judge pointed out in an earlier hearing that the special prosecutor law doesn’t allow the D.A. to remain on the case. The D.A. appointed two New Mexico attorneys as special prosecutors.

Why is the D.A. relying on the special prosecutor law to pursue Alec Baldwin and Hannah Reed?

The D.A.’s office is short of one attorney and funding to handle their regular case load. Appointing a special prosecutor allows the D.A.’s office to tap into state funding. If the D.A.’s office had to handle the case on its own, it would have to drop all charges.

Considering how the D.A.’s office had handled the case so far, dropping the charges seems likely.

NOTE: Check out the longer version of this blog post.