Prosecutor opposes 'Rust' armorer's request for release

SANTA FE

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the former armorer for the Western film "Rust," listens to closing arguments in her trial at district court, Wednesday, March 6, 2024, in Santa Fe, N.M.

A special prosecutor is opposing a request by a former movie armorer that she be released from prison while seeking a new trial and appeal of her involuntary manslaughter conviction in a 2021 shooting on the set of the film “Rust.”

Kari Morrissey wrote in a response brief filed on July 26 that Hannah Gutierrez-Reed’s motion for release “is premature given that the court has yet to receive completed briefing on the defendant’s motion for new trial, hear arguments on the defendant’s motion and rule on the motion in defendant’s favor.”

Lawyers for Gutierrez-Reed have argued her case should be reconsidered because prosecutors failed to share evidence that might have been exculpatory.

Gutierrez-Reed wants a judge to dismiss her conviction or convene a new trial in the shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins by actor Alec Baldwin.

Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer for “Rust,” was pointing a gun at Hutchins during a rehearsal on a movie set outside Santa Fe in October 2021 when the revolver went off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.

Gutierrez-Reed already has an appeal pending in a higher court on the involuntary manslaughter conviction.

She was convicted by a jury in March in a trial overseen by Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer, who later assigned the maximum 18-month penalty .

Baldwin’s trial ended July 12 when Marlowe Sommer dismissed the case based on misconduct of police and prosecutors over the withholding of evidence from the defense.

Prosecutors blamed 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.