Why Alec Baldwin's Rust Prosecutor Shockingly Quit Case Before Judge Dismissed It: 'Ethical Obligations'

Erlinda Ocampo Johnson, the special prosecutor who unexpectedly resigned from the Rust involuntary manslaughter case against Alec Baldwin before it was dismissed by a judge this week, is opening up about her decision to do so.

"Prosecutors have high ethical obligations, and when a prosecutor learns of evidence that could be material to the defense was not disclosed, the right thing to do would be to dismiss a case," she tells PEOPLE.

"When that was not done, my ethical obligations compelled me to withdraw," Ocampo Johnson adds.

Baldwin, 66, was on trial nearly three years after the gun he was holding on the set of his film Rust in October 2021 discharged and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza. The case itself was dismissed on Friday, July 12, after the 30 Rock alum's attorneys argued that prosecutors had buried evidence — specifically evidence that his attorney Luke Nikas argued would've shed light onto how live ammunition was brought to the set.

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After Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer had Baldwin's charge dropped, Ocampo Johnson also spoke with NewsNation's Chris Cuomo about why she resigned from the case before the dismissal was announced.

"We have an obligation as prosecutors, we have an obligation not only to the people, but to the defendant and our obligation is to make sure that all the evidence is turned over," Ocampo Johnson said of her position. "We don't get to decide what the defense is going to be. Our job is to ensure transparency, and to ensure that the defendant has everything that the prosecution has gathered. What they do with it, that's up to them.” 

She added that she has "ethical obligations and personally, I have moral obligations."

“My ethical obligation, and my moral obligations really are not that different," Ocampo Johnson continued. "And so when I see that something isn't right, and when I see that the law isn't followed, I don't care who you are, where you are, you make the right decision. And for me, the right decision was to walk up to the judge and ask to be allowed to withdraw before that circus of a hearing got underway."

A prosecution is required to share any material evidence with the defense that could work in the accused's favor in accordance with the Brady rule. In the Rust case, ammunition was turned over from a man named Troy Teske (a friend of the father of convicted Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed), who thought it was connected to the case. Baldwin's legal team argued that this was "critical evidence in the case that was never disclosed to us."

Ocampo Johnson told NewsNation after the dismissal that she herself "learned about this evidence when the public learned about it yesterday, late afternoon." She also said that she was "not involved in the Hannah Gutierrez case at all" and "was not aware that this individual had taken this ammunition to the sheriff's department and provided it to the officers." (Gutierrez-Reed was previously found guilty of involuntary manslaughter for loading a live round into Baldwin's gun.)

While Ocampo Johnson resigned from the case, she told Cuomo that based on her "evaluation of the evidence that I was privy to," citing clips from the Rust set, Baldwin did "engage in some horseplay with this gun." She cited an interview by investigators in which someone claimed he "allowed Mr. Baldwin to use him kind of as a target to shoot blanks at him."

"You don't use another person as a target, as a human target, so that could potentially be reckless," she said. "And so, you know, he wasn't charged with intentional homicide. There's no question for me, there's no question Mr. Baldwin did not intend to do this. But the question is, was there wanton and recklessness and so that's why I did believe in the case. I had no idea that this other evidence had not been turned over."

Ocampo Johnson also added to NBC News that she "believed that the right decision would have been a dismissal" given the circumstances. She said that she also believed there was "some reckless behavior on the set."

“I don’t think it was intentional," she added of the evidence mix-up. "I really do not believe that. I think it was just something that — it wasn’t turned over, and it should have been.”

Baldwin, who now cannot be charged with involuntary manslaughter again, still currently faces civil lawsuits.