As a seasoned film enthusiast with decades of industry experience under my belt, I must say, the recent turn of events in the Rust case has left me both saddened and perplexed. Hannah Gutierrez-Reed’s bid for a retrial has been denied, and while justice was served, it feels like a bittersweet victory.
As a gamer, I’d put it like this: “My appeal, as Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer from Rust, to overturn my involuntary manslaughter conviction following the unfortunate accidental death of the film’s cinematographer, has been turned down.
In her ruling on Monday, Santa Fe Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer maintained the guilty verdict against Gutierrez-Reed, arguing that the charges were valid and he was not eligible for a retrial. The court rejected claims that the prosecution had concealed evidence of a batch of ammunition, some of which corresponded to the bullets discovered on the film set.
The legal strategy of the armorer centered on the dismissal of Alec Baldwin’s case, following the judge’s criticism of the prosecution for misconduct. This was due to the prosecution allegedly hiding evidence from the defense intentionally and deliberately. The lead special prosecutor, Kari Morrissey, was found to have consistently failed to meet discovery obligations and also provided conflicting testimony regarding the ammunition given by retired Arizona police officer Troy Teske. It was uncovered that the rounds he supplied had Starline brass casings with silver primers, which matched the live bullet that resulted in Hutchins’ death.
In Monday’s decision, Sommer stated that the prosecutors didn’t conceal the evidence of the ammunition because it was accessible to Gutierrez-Reed’s lawyer before and throughout the trial. Instead, he pointed out that the ammunition and Teske were within reach for the defense, but they chose not to bring Teske as a witness or present the ammunition during the trial.
Jason Bowles, lawyer for Gutierrez-Reed, stated that he did not wish to handle the evidence as part of the “chain of custody” and also wanted no suspicion of his involvement in anything dubious regarding those rounds. If he was knowledgeable about the rounds, he explained that he would have proposed the theory suggesting that Seth Kenney, proprietor of a props and arms supplier providing ammunition and weapons to the set of Rust, might have introduced the bullets onto the scene.
Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey has asserted that she didn’t conceal evidence from defense attorneys. She claims she first realized that the ammunition provided by Teske resembled the bullets discovered on the Rust set when this was brought up in court during Baldwin’s case dismissal. Morrissey questioned the credibility of the evidence supplied by Teske, a longtime friend of Reed. According to her, the rounds Teske had were disqualified as the source of those found on the film set, after he sent Kenney a photo of the ammunition he was holding for Reed. This picture, she stated, proved that the ammo wasn’t a match.
Approximately a month prior to the trial of Gutierrez-Reed, Bowles made an analogous decision, determining that Teske’s rounds were not suitable for testing and elected not to do so.
The court ruled that the late submission of an additional report detailing the firearm’s operation, which malfunctioned, does not justify dropping the charges or a retrial for Gutierrez-Reed. Although the prosecution did not promptly share this beneficial report with the defense, it appears unlikely to have altered the jury’s decision, according to Sommer.
In April, a court convicted Gutierrez-Reed, who placed a live bullet into the gun that Baldwin was holding and resulted in the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, to 18 months in prison for involuntary manslaughter. The maximum penalty was handed down by Sommer, emphasizing the apparent lack of remorse Gutierrez-Reed displayed during monitored phone calls prior to sentencing.
Sommer explained, “In her own terms, she stated that she didn’t constantly have to handle prop weapons.” She emphasized, “As the armorer, it was your responsibility to ensure a safe weapon remained safe, and prevent a harmless object from becoming deadly. If you had fulfilled this duty, Alec Hutchins would still be alive, his partner wouldn’t be grieving, and a little boy wouldn’t have lost his mother.
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2024-09-30 20:56