Hannah Gutierrez-Reed wipes her tears at her sentencing hearing in state district court in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on April 15.Luis Sánchez Saturno/The Associated Press
A movie armourer has asked a judge to dismiss her involuntary manslaughter conviction or convene a new trial in the shooting death of a cinematographer by actor Alec Baldwin, alleging suppression of evidence and misconduct by the prosecution.
In a court filing Tuesday, defence counsel for armourer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed argued her case should be reconsidered because prosecutors failed to share evidence that might have been exculpatory.
Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer last week brought Mr. Baldwin’s trial to a sudden and stunning end based on misconduct of police and prosecutors over the withholding of evidence from the defence in the 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film Rust.
“This court stated on July 12 that the integrity of the judicial system demanded that the court dismiss Mr. Baldwin’s case with prejudice,” said defence lawyer Jason Bowles in the new court filing. “How can it be any different with Ms. Gutierrez-Reed’s case, with this proven litany of serious discovery abuses?”
Kari Morrissey – lead prosecutor in both the Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed cases – said her written response would be filed in court next week, declining further comment.
The case-ending evidence at Mr. Baldwin’s trial was ammunition that was brought into the sheriff’s office in March by a man who said it could be related to Ms. Hutchins’s killing. Prosecutors said they deemed the ammo unrelated and unimportant, while Mr. Baldwin’s lawyers alleged they “buried” it and filed a motion to dismiss the case.
Ms. Gutierrez-Reed was convicted by a jury in March in a trial overseen by Justice Sommer, who later assigned the maximum 18-month penalty. Ms. Gutierrez-Reed already has an appeal pending in a higher court on the involuntary manslaughter conviction.
Prosecutors blamed Ms. Gutierrez-Reed for unwittingly bringing live ammunition onto the set of Rust, where it was expressly prohibited, and for failing to follow basic gun-safety protocols.
She was acquitted at trial of allegations she tampered with evidence in the Rust investigation. She also has pleaded not guilty to a separate felony charge that she allegedly carried a gun into a bar in Santa Fe, N.M., where firearms are prohibited.
Mr. Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer for Rust, was pointing a gun at Ms. Hutchins during a rehearsal on a movie set outside Santa Fe in October, 2021, when the revolver went off, killing Ms. Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.