Rust Armorer Loses Bid to Have Conviction Tossed

UPDATE Sep 30, 2024 12:14 PM CDT

A judge in New Mexico has upheld the conviction of Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, armorer on the set of the movie Rust, in the shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, reports the AP. Gutierrez-Reed is currently serving an 18-month sentence for involuntary manslaughter, and she argued that her case should be tossed, as happened with Alec Baldwin's case. However, the judge on Monday ruled she would have been convicted even with the evidence that was withheld in Baldwin's case, per Variety. Gutierrez-Reed continues to appeal the conviction.

Jul 17, 2024 7:46 AM CDT

Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed says she deserves to be freed from prison, or else granted a new trial, due to "egregious prosecutorial misconduct" that resulted in actor Alec Baldwin's own involuntary manslaughter case being dismissed. Her lawyer filed a motion for a new trial or dismissal of her case on Tuesday, citing "severe and ongoing discovery violations by the State," NBC News reports. On Friday, the judge overseeing Baldwin's criminal trial decided dismissal with prejudice was "the only warranted remedy" after special prosecutor Kari T. Morrissey suppressed evidence related to live ammunition on the set where cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was fatally shot in 2021.

A crime scene technician testified that Troy Teske, a friend of Gutierrez-Reed's father, gave investigators a box of live ammunition he obtained from prop supplier Seth Kenney and believed was related to Gutierrez-Reed's March conviction for involuntary manslaughter, for which she was sentenced to 18 months in a New Mexico state prison. Teske reportedly hoped the evidence would help Gutierrez-Reed's appeal. But the rounds weren't added to the case file or tested to see if they matched the lethal round, CNN reports. Baldwin's lawyers alleged prosecutors concealed "an external source of the live ammunition" as it was "favorable to Baldwin."

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Gutierrez-Reed's attorneys now claim Morrissey "attempted to hide" the same "crucial evidence," and much more, in their client's case. The armorer's defense team claims they knew of Teske's rounds in January and wrote to Morrissey, stressing it was important to compare them to the live rounds found on set, per CNN. Morrissey allegedly replied that the rounds were visually different and irrelevant. During Baldwin's trial, however, she claimed Gutierrez-Reed's attorneys weren't interested in Teske's rounds because they incriminated Gutierrez-Reed, according to the filing. It alleges prosecutors also suppressed an interview with Kenney, whose statements would've been used in their client's defense. (More Rust stories.)