Imprisoned 'Rust' armorer seeks release after Alec Baldwin dismissal

[July 17, 2024]  By Andrew Hay
 
TAOS, N.M. (Reuters) - Hannah Gutierrez, the armorer imprisoned for the 2021 "Rust" shooting, on Tuesday filed a motion for her conviction to be dismissed after charges against actor Alec Baldwin were dropped on prosecutors withholding evidence linked to the 2021 fatality.

A lawyer for Gutierrez said the buried evidence of live rounds, and other information concealed from defense lawyers, were grounds for dismissal or a new trial.

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed (center) talks with her attorney Jason Bowles (right) and her defense team during the trial against her in First District Court, in Santa Fe, N.M. on Friday, March, 1, 2024. Gutierrez-Reed, who was working as the armorer on the movie "Rust" when cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed by a misfire, is charged with involuntary manslaughter and tampering with evidence. Jim Weber/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

Should Gutierrez be successful in her motion it would mark a complete unraveling of New Mexico's criminal prosecution of the rookie weapons handler and Baldwin for the death of "Rust" cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

The motion followed the dismissal of charges against Baldwin during his trial on Friday as a judge ruled prosecutors deliberately hid the existence of live rounds handed into police that could reveal the source of the round that killed Hutchins.

The Ukrainian director of photography died when Baldwin's gun fired a live round inadvertently loaded by Gutierrez as the actor set up a camera shot in a movie-set church southwest of Santa Fe, new Mexico.

In Gutierrez's motion to dismiss, lawyer Jason Bowles said he contacted state prosecutor Kari Morrissey in January requesting that the FBI test the live rounds that were eventually handed into police on March 6, the day Gutierrez was convicted.

Bowles said Morrissey responded by saying she did not plan to retrieve the rounds or test them as they looked different to six live rounds found on the set of "Rust."

Three of the rounds handed in by Troy Teske, a friend of Gutierrez's stepfather Thell Reed, were similar to live rounds found on the "Rust" set.

Bowles listed other instances of prosecutors failing to disclose evidence to defense lawyers, including an interview with "Rust" props supplier Seth Kenney and a supplemental report on Baldwin's gun by firearms expert Lucien Haag.

Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer must now schedule a hearing on Gutierrez's motion to dismiss.

(Reporting by Andrew Hay; Editing by Christopher Cushing)

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