‘Rust’ Armorer Denied Release & New Trial Over Suppressed Evidence
Just days after a hearing on whether Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed should get a new trial or dismissal and be released from a New Mexico state prison over the fatal 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, a judge has said no on all counts.
“Defendant has not established that there is a reasonable probability that, had the evidence been available to Defendant, the evidence would have produced a different verdict,” said Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer in a ruling posted this morning.
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The “evidence” in question here is bullets that were handed over to the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office by ex-Arizona cop (and close friend of Gutierrez-Reed’s Hollywood gun coach father) Troy Teske earlier this year that Alec Baldwin’s lawyers never saw. Viewed as suppressed evidence, the revelation of sorts of said bullets led to a decision by Judge Sommer to tossed out Baldwin’s case and raised the possibility of the release of incarcerated Rust armorer.
With that release now not happening, nor a new trial, Gutierrez-Reed’s attorney Jason Bowles tells Deadline that his client will appeal both decisions.
Read the rulings on the motion for new trial here and motion for release here.
In April, Gutierrez-Reed was sentenced to 18 months in a New Mexico state prison after being found guilty of involuntary manslaughter for the live round that ended up on the seemingly chaotic Rust set. Her main lawyer Jason Bowles has made a number of efforts since the sentencing to appeal his client’s conviction or get her bail while the appeal proceeded. When Alec Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter case was tossed on out the fourth day of trial over suppressed evidence, it seems that a new avenue for Gutierrez-Reed had opened up.
Today’s dual rulings by Judge Sommer shut that down pretty firmly.
Hutchins was killed, and Rust director Joel Souza was injured, on October 21, 2021 after the Colt .45 Baldwin was pointing at the cinematographer fired off a live round during a rehearsal at the Bonanza Creek Ranch near Santa Fe, where the indie Western was filming.
Baldwin, who always insisted he did not pull the trigger and the gun discharged on its own, had faced up to 18 months in state prison if found guilty. The FBI, an independent analysis and the man who actually made the gun all disagreed with Baldwin’s assertion. He still faces nearly a dozen civil suits over the Rust tragedy.
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