A judge heard arguments Thursday on whether to dismiss a criminal conviction against a movie armorer in the shooting death of a cinematographer by actor Alec Baldwin and said she'll rule next week on whether to skuttle the case or order a retrial.
In a remote court hearing, an attorney for Hannah Gutierrez-Reed challenged her March conviction for involuntary manslaughter, alleging that prosecutors failed to share evidence including ammunition that might have been exculpatory in the shooting death that occurred on the set of the Western movie “Rust” in 2021.
Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer is reconsidering the armorer’s felony conviction after throwing out an involuntary manslaughter case against Baldwin midtrial on similar grounds.
“This pattern of (evidence) discovery abuse occurred in Ms. Gutierrez-Reed's case in the same manner as it did in Mr. Baldwin's case,” said Jason Bowles, lead defense attorney to Gutierrez-Reed.
Get top local stories in San Diego delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC San Diego's News Headlines newsletter.
Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer for “Rust,” was pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal on a movie ranch outside Santa Fe in October 2021 when the revolver went off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer — but not the trigger — and the revolver fired.
Marlowe Sommer dismissed the case against Baldwin based on the withholding of evidence by police and prosecutors. The case-ending evidence was ammunition that was brought into the sheriff’s office in March by a man who said it could be related to Hutchins’ killing.
Prosecutors have said they deemed the ammunition unrelated and unimportant, while Baldwin’s lawyers alleged that they “buried” it and filed a successful motion to dismiss the case. In her decision to dismiss the Baldwin case, Marlowe Sommer described “egregious discovery violations constituting misconduct” by law enforcement and prosecutors, as well as false testimony about physical evidence by a witness during the trial.
Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey said at Thursday's hearing that defense counsel for Gutierrez-Reed knew of the ammunition in question prior to the armorer's trial but declined to enter it into the court record or have it tested to see whether it matched live ammunition on the set of “Rust.”
“Evidence wasn’t deliberately hidden from Mr. Bowles, it was provided to him by his own witness. He could have had it tested at any point in time,” Morrissey said. “I would respectfully ask the court to deny Mr. Bowles his motion" to dismiss the case.
Bowles said he didn't collect the ammunition himself because of concerns that it would alter the chain of custody and possibly disqualify the evidence from consideration at trail. He also asked the judge to remove Morrissey from the case in the event of a retrial and is seeking the immediate release of Gutierrez-Reed from incarceration.
Gutierrez-Reed started serving an 18-month sentence in March and has appealed the jury’s guilty verdict to a state appeals court. Prosecutors blamed Gutierrez-Reed for unwittingly bringing live ammunition onto the set and for failing to follow basic gun safety protocols.
She was acquitted at trial of allegations she tampered with evidence in the “Rust” investigation. Gutierrez-Reed also has pleaded not guilty to a separate felony charge that she allegedly carried a gun into a bar in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where firearms are prohibited. A proposed plea agreement is awaiting court review.
Gutierrez-Reed’s attorneys have also said that prosecutors failed to properly disclose portions of pretrial interviews with “Rust” ammunition supplier Seth Kenney — as well as reports by firearms expert Lucien Haag — that might have changed the outcome of the armorer’s trial.
Morrissey challenged assertions that the evidence would have changed the outcome at trial. She said the interview with Kenney took place before her appointment to the case and that she was surprised to learn of the recording.
“My team was unaware of it,” Morrissey said. “It was absolutely a failure. There’s no question about it. I immediately provided it to Mr. Bowles.”
