A New Mexico judge on Monday upheld the involuntary manslaughter conviction of “Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed for her role in the 2021 death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
New Mexico’s First Circuit Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer rejected her lawyers’ claim that evidence was allegedly tampered with and withheld by a special prosecutor could have affected the outcome of her case.
Gutierrez-Reed had appealed based on the same “suppressed evidence” received Alec Baldwin’s case was filed in July. She had asked that her conviction be overturned or that she be granted a new trial, arguing that evidence prosecutors had failed to share could have cleared her.
Marlowe Sommer disagreed, saying in a written order that Gutierrez-Reed’s attorneys had not proven that the trial would have gone differently had they had access to the evidence. In July, the judge halted Baldwin’s trial after it was revealed to police and prosecutors failed to disclose a firearms expert’s report on the function of the gun the actor had pointed at Hutchins during a rehearsal on October 21, 2021.
In addition, ammunition was turned over to authorities that allegedly came from the film set, but the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office had filed it separately and did not alert Baldwin’s defense team to its existence, deciding on its own that it was not relevant.
Marlowe Sommer said it didn’t have the same impact on justice in Gutierrez-Reed’s case.
“The defendant has been convicted of a felony that involved a firearm and that resulted 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 shot to occur.”
Gutierrez-Reed’s appeal of her general conviction is pending in a higher court. She is seven months into the 18-month prison sentence she received after being found guilty in March.
With News Wire Services