Rust' Shooting: Armorer's Attorneys Seek Case Dismissal or New Trial Following Alec Baldwin

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Attorneys for Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the armorer convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the 2021 fatal shooting on the set of the movie "Rust," have filed a motion for a new trial or for her case to be dismissed. This filing comes on the heels of the related case against actor Alec Baldwin being dismissed due to significant prosecutorial misconduct and discovery violations.

 

The motion, filed on Tuesday in the Santa Fe First Judicial District Court, cites "egregious prosecutorial misconduct" and multiple allegations of "severe and ongoing discovery violations by the state." Gutierrez Reed's attorneys are demanding the court order her release from prison and remove Kari Morrissey as the special prosecutor for what they claim are misconduct and violations committed in their client's case.

 

On Friday, the involuntary manslaughter charges against Baldwin, who authorities say held the prop gun that discharged and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in October 2021, were dismissed. The judge overseeing Baldwin’s case ruled that prosecutors had failed to properly turn over evidence to the defense. This collapse of Baldwin's case has fueled speculation among legal experts that Gutierrez Reed's conviction could similarly be overturned. She is currently serving an 18-month sentence following her March conviction.

 

 

In their motion, Gutierrez Reed's attorneys argue that her case should be dismissed or retried, partly based on the judge’s determination of withheld evidence in Baldwin’s case. They assert that Morrissey lied in court about the evidence during Baldwin's trial and claim there were other instances of suppressed evidence in the armorer’s case. CNN has sought comment from Morrissey but has yet to receive a response.

 

The shooting occurred on October 21, 2021, when Baldwin was on set at a ranch outside Santa Fe practicing a “cross draw” with a prop gun. This maneuver involves pulling the gun from a holster on the opposite side of the body from the draw hand. The gun discharged a live round, killing Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza. As the armorer, Gutierrez Reed was responsible for firearm safety and storage on the set. Prosecutors argued at her trial that she repeatedly violated safety protocols and acted without caution in performing her duties, ultimately leading to Hutchins’ death. Gutierrez Reed’s defense attorneys argued that she had been scapegoated for the safety failures of the film set management and other crew members.

 

The evidence that led to the implosion of Baldwin’s trial surfaced last week when a crime scene technician testified that a man had delivered a box of ammunition to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office in March, right after Gutierrez Reed’s conviction. The man, Troy Teske, a retired police officer and friend of the armorer’s father, told investigators he had obtained the ammunition from prop supplier Seth Kenney and believed it could be associated with the "Rust" incident. However, the technician testified that the items were cataloged separately from Baldwin’s case and were not included in the "Rust" case inventory or tested to see if they matched the lethal round.

 

Baldwin’s attorneys, in a filing last week asking for the case to be dismissed, claimed this could indicate “an external source of the live ammunition (prop supplier Seth Kenney)” on set. The Baldwin team’s filing alleged that prosecutors did not disclose the evidence because it “would be favorable to Baldwin.” Baldwin was unaware of the risk that live ammunition had been brought to the "Rust" set, and for prosecutors to establish a link between Baldwin and the live ammunition source, they would have to show that Gutierrez Reed, the armorer, had brought the rounds to the set. "Evidence that the live rounds came from Kenney is therefore favorable to Baldwin, which is why the state buried it," the document states.

 

During a chaotic, hourslong hearing on Friday, investigators testified that they and Morrissey determined the ammunition was not relevant to the "Rust" case and did not turn it over to the defense. Morrissey also testified, stating that investigators had determined the ammunition was not a match to those found on the "Rust" set and had no evidentiary value. The lead investigator, however, testified that the rounds looked “similar” to the dummy rounds on the film’s set. Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer ruled that prosecutors had not properly turned over evidence to the defense and dismissed Baldwin’s case with prejudice, meaning it cannot be brought again.

 

In Tuesday’s filing, Gutierrez Reed’s attorneys said prosecutors—and even Gutierrez Reed’s defense team—were aware of the ammunition Teske had before he gave it to the sheriff’s office in March. Her attorneys wrote an email to Morrissey in January, stating it was “important to compare the powder of the Teske rounds to the powder in the live rounds found on the Rust set.” Morrissey responded that she did not plan to retrieve or test the rounds because she found them visually dissimilar and not relevant, according to Gutierrez Reed’s attorneys.

 

However, during Baldwin’s trial on Friday, Morrissey claimed that Gutierrez Reed’s attorneys did not want the rounds that Teske had because they incriminated their client. "That is an absolute falsehood. ... Far from distancing (themselves) from the Teske rounds, defense counsel recognized their potential exculpatory value had the state tested them," the court filing states. Teske had turned the rounds over to the sheriff’s office in March, hoping that it would test the rounds “while Gutierrez Reed pursued her appeal,” the filing says. “Instead, the state placed them in a separate case file and attempted to hide them,” Gutierrez Reed’s attorneys wrote.

 

The attorneys also claim that an interview with Kenney, the prop supplier, was suppressed. They would have used his statements in cross-examination in Gutierrez Reed’s trial had they known about them. In the interview, Kenney spoke about Gutierrez Reed’s experience and mentioned that he had not heard allegations that she was unsafe, among other things, the attorneys wrote. A report conducted by state firearms experts was likewise not made available to Gutierrez Reed’s attorneys. The state revealed it to Baldwin’s defense team only after Gutierrez Reed was convicted. The report said the gun used on the "Rust" set had “unexplained toolmarks on critical surfaces of the trigger and sear,” according to Tuesday’s filing.

 

Gutierrez Reed’s attorneys previously made this argument in a separate court filing, which Reuters reported last month, asking that a court release her from prison. The firearms experts’ finding is evidence that the gun could have accidentally fired and could have led to her not being found guilty in the case, said her attorney Jason Bowles last month, according to Reuters. Her defense team "has also become aware of another possible 900 or so pages of material" related to the state’s witnesses that were disclosed to Baldwin’s attorneys shortly before his trial but not to Gutierrez Reed’s attorneys. "Her lawyers were still reviewing these at the time of the filing of this motion," the filing reads.

 

The state violated Gutierrez Reed’s due process rights by failing to disclose evidence, her attorneys argue in Tuesday’s filing. "This court stated on July 12 that the integrity of the judicial system demanded that the court dismiss Mr. Baldwin’s case with prejudice," the filing said. "How can it be any different with Ms. Gutierrez Reed’s case, with this proven litany of serious discovery abuses?"

 

"The intentional withholding of crucial evidence ... by the state has compromised the integrity of the entire judicial process," the filing continued. Gutierrez Reed previously filed an appeal of her conviction in May, and this latest motion represents another critical step in her legal battle. As the legal proceedings continue to unfold, the court's decision on this motion could significantly impact the future of Gutierrez Reed’s case and the broader implications for justice and accountability in the tragic incident on the set of "Rust."

 

Credit: CNN 2024-07-18

 

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[Tug]

In my opinion she is making a mistake an 18 month sentence is a gift 

[JonnyF]

She's pretty cute now she's lost the stupid blonde/blue mullet.

 

Unfortunately she should just accept her sentence. She took the fall for the rich, famous, celebrity Democrat. She's low hanging fruit. A scapegoat. Like the Burmese labourers in the Koh Chang killing, stitched up by the system so the man with the power/status can walk.

 

She's got no chance in the US justice legal system.