Home World Rust Armorer Wants Case Dismissed After Baldwin Trial Revelations

Rust Armorer Wants Case Dismissed After Baldwin Trial Revelations

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Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed has filed a motion for a new trial — or for a dismissal of her case — in the wake of new ballistics evidence and “egregious prosecutorial misconduct” that was revealed during Alec Baldwin‘s trial last week.

“Justice demands that Hannah Gutierrez-Reed’s conviction be overturned immediately, ensuring that the legal system does not perpetuate this core affront to our system that has been watched all over the world,” reads the motion, which was submitted to Santa Fe’s First Judicial District Court on July 16.

Gutierrez-Reed is currently serving out an 18-month prison sentence in the 2021 shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, after a Santa Fe jury found her guilty of involuntary manslaughter on March 6.

A New Mexico judge dismissed Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter case on July 12, after a dramatic hearing in which Baldwin’s attorneys said that Rust prosecutor Kari Morrissey had withheld key evidence, a handful of bullets that were turned over to Santa Fe sheriffs in March but never disclosed to Baldwin.

“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 armorer’s attorneys, Jason Bowles and Monnica L. Barreras, wrote in their motion. “How can it be any different with Ms. Gutierrez-Reed’s case?”

Gutierrez-Reed’s attorneys also asked that Morrissey be removed as special prosecutor.

The dismissal of Baldwin’s case came after the revelation that Troy Teske, a retired Arizona police officer, had walked into the Santa Fe sheriff’s department immediately after Gutierrez-Reed was found guilty in March and turned in ammunition that he said came from the same source as the bullet that killed Hutchins. The sheriff’s department’s possession of the rounds was not disclosed to Baldwin, nor were the bullets presented at the defense’s evidence viewing April 16, according to his attorneys. 

Gutierrez-Reed’s attorneys say they were aware of the rounds Teske turned over in March, and that they had hoped the sheriff’s department would test and analyze the bullets while Gutierrez-Reed pursued her appeal. “Instead, the State placed them in a separate case file and attempted to hide them,” the motion says. Immediately after the judge dismissed Baldwin’s case, Morrissey spoke to cameras outside the courthouse in Santa Fe. “I respect the court’s decision,” the prosecutor said, “But there is absolutely no evidence that any of that ammunition was related to the incident with Ms. Hutchins.”

Gutierrez-Reed’s attorneys say the ammunition Teske turned over is only part of what prosecutors have withheld from them. They also cite interviews with key witnesses, including Seth Kenney, Rust‘s props ammunition supplier, and with the state’s two firearms experts, Lucien C. Haag and Michael G. Haag, that prosecutors did not surrender.

“The repeated discovery failures are certainly beneath what Ms. Gutierrez-Reed deserved,” the filing says. “And for her, the impact has been devastating.”

Gutierrez-Reed’s motion is just the latest legal turn in the Rust tragedy, with civil lawsuits against Baldwin and the indie Western’s other producers, still unfolding.

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