A New Mexico judge on Monday upheld the involuntary manslaughter conviction of “Rust” gunsmith Hannah Gutierrez-Reed for her role in the 2021 on-set death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer of New Mexico’s First Judicial Circuit Court rejected her attorneys’ contention that evidence that was mishandled and withheld by a special prosecutor could have affected the outcome of her case.
Gutierrez-Reed appealed based on the same “suppressed evidence” that led to the dismissal of Alec Baldwin’s case in July. She had asked that her conviction be overturned or that she be granted a new trial, saying evidence that prosecutors had not shared could have exonerated her.
Marlowe Sommer disagreed, saying in a written order that Gutierrez-Reed’s lawyers had not proven that the trial would have proceeded differently if they had had access to the evidence. In July, the judge halted Baldwin’s trial after it was revealed that police and prosecutors had failed to disclose a firearms expert’s report on the functionality of the weapon the actor had pointed at Hutchins during a rehearsal on October 21, 2021.
Additionally, munitions were turned over to authorities that allegedly came from the film set, but the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office had filed them separately and did not alert Baldwin’s defense team of its existence, deciding to release them. himself that it was not relevant.
Marlowe Sommer said it didn’t have the same impact on fairness in Gutierrez-Reed’s case.
“The defendant was convicted of a felony involving a firearm resulting in the death of Ms. Halyna Hutchins,” Marlowe Sommer wrote in Monday’s order, according to the Los Angeles Times. Gutierrez-Reed, she wrote, acted recklessly in a way that “allowed a fatal shooting to occur.”
Gutierrez-Reed’s appeal of his overall conviction is pending in a higher court. She is seven months into the 18-month prison sentence she received after being convicted in March.
With news feed services
