The fallout from the dismissal of charges against actor Alec Baldwin in the Rust set shooting is now extending beyond his high-profile case. According to a report from Variety, attorneys for Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer on the movie, have now filed an expedited motion to either have her conviction for involuntary manslaughter thrown out, or grant her a new trial. Gutierrez-Reed is currently serving 18 months in a New Mexico prison in the tragic shooting that left Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins dead.
On October 21, 2021, Hutchins was killed on the set of Baldwin’s Western project when the gun the actor was holding fired a live round. The film’s director, Joel Souza, was wounded by the same bullet. Baldwin claims he did not pull the trigger on the gun, which should have had a blank round in it, when it fired. Gutierrez-Reed was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in March, and her attorneys now claim that the misconduct by prosecutors that caused Baldwin’s case to be dismissed should apply to her as well. In their filing, they claim:
The intentional withholding of crucial evidence…has compromised the integrity of the entire judicial process.
Last week, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer threw out the involuntary manslaughter case against Baldwin over significant failures of prosecutors to disclose evidence. In particular, prosecutors failed to disclose that authorities had ammunition collected from the set, which appeared to include live rounds similar to the one that killed Hutchins. Sommer cited this incident as one of many procedural failures that kept Baldwin’s attorneys from mounting a fully informed defense.
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After nearly three years of legal limbo, Baldwin will not be found culpable of involuntary manslaughter.
“The late discovery of this evidence during trial has impeded the effective use of evidence in such a way that it has impacted the fundamental fairness of the proceedings,” she said. The case was dismissed with prejudice, which in legal terms means New Mexico authorities cannot charge Baldwin again with the same crime.
Could Hannah Gutierrez-Reed Be Set Free?
In their motion, attorneys for Gutierrez-Reed argue that, like Baldwin, the case should be dismissed:
“The repeated discovery failures are certainly beneath what Ms. Gutierrez-Reed deserved, and for her, the impact has been devastating. She now sits in state prison serving an 18-month sentence based on what we now know was a proceeding that was rendered unfair and unconstitutional by the State’s conduct. This Court should not countenance the State’s deplorable behavior.”
During Gutierrez-Reed’s sentencing, the judge admonished her for her actions, which directly led to live ammunition being placed in Baldwin’s gun. That could set a higher standard for having a verdict overturned. In a video clip from Court TV, attorney Jessica Ehrlich broke down the importance of the prosecutors’ misconduct. She states that for Gutierrez-Reed, “at least there should be a retrial in this matter.”
As for the release of Rust, filming resumed last year and has been completed. Producers are currently hoping a distributor will pick up the film. The film also stars Travis Fimmel, Frances Fisher, Jake Busey, and Jensen Ackles.
A release date for
Rust
has not been announced.
