Posted on 07/17/2024 7:03:54 AM PDT by Red Badger
CRIME "Rust" armorer wants conviction tossed in wake of dropping of Baldwin charges July 17, 2024 / 5:33 AM EDT / AFP
The armorer on Alec Baldwin film "Rust" filed Tuesday to have her conviction for involuntary manslaughter overturned, days after the Hollywood star's own trial over a fatal on-set shooting collapsed due to withheld evidence.
Baldwin was holding a revolver during a rehearsal for the low-budget Western in October 2021 when a live round was fired, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounding the film's director.
Hannah Gutierrez, as the film's armorer, was responsible for providing dummy and blank rounds to the movie set.
She accidentally loaded the fatal gun with a live round -- the origin of which has never been explained -- and was sentenced earlier this year to 18 months in prison.
But during Baldwin's separate trial in Santa Fe, New Mexico, last week, it emerged that police and prosecutors had suppressed potentially significant evidence that could have explained how live rounds ended up on set.
Bullets that had been handed to law enforcement earlier this year by a former police officer, which appeared to match the round that killed Hutchins, were never examined by the lead detective or shown to defense lawyers -- meaning their origins remain unknown.
Baldwin's case was immediately tossed by the judge, who said the "intentional and deliberate" withholding of evidence was "highly prejudicial to the defendant."
Gutierrez, also known as Hannah Gutierrez Reed, was already in the process of appealing her conviction prior to the Baldwin trial.
Her lawyers have now filed an expedited motion for a new trial or dismissal of charges due to "severe and ongoing discovery violations by the state."
The motion said prosecutor Kari Morrissey "lied to this court several times" and was "in on the decision to hide the rounds."
It also alleges Morrissey withheld further evidence relevant to Gutierrez's case until after her trial, including an interview with a prop weapons supplier and reports by state firearms experts.
"The intentional withholding of crucial evidence ... has compromised the integrity of the entire judicial process," said the motion.
"Justice demands that Hannah Gutierrez Reed's conviction be overturned immediately."
Nice try.
Not gonna work.
CC
Has SeeBS "news" invented the fourth-person singular?
I don’t blame her.
Granted she failed in her job, but HE pointed the gun at her and pulled the trigger.
He killed her himself, because his actions are a gross violation of gun safety rules no matter how sure you are the gun is not loaded.
If he, who committed the act, had charges dropped, hers should be too.
Sorry lady, you’re not a rich, connected, Hollywood Democrat.
Some little person has to be their sacrificial goat, and you’re it. You probably voted for this. And you got it.
I agree....absolutely...I don’t think she is the one who brought the live shells...I think its the prop manager...she had access...and actually threw bullets away...and never told anyone until much later. Then she received immunity if she would testify against the armorer. And there’s more.
“ If he, who committed the act, had charges dropped, hers should be too.”
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Yep, just as the prosecutor deviously withheld exculpatory evidence from Baldwin, so she withheld it from Hannah Gutierrez.
These local prosecutors have such little talent and experience they can’t even run a trial w/o it getting thrown out. Many are lawyers who failed in private practice and join their local political committee and fall into running for office or get a patronage appointment.
“Yep, just as the prosecutor deviously withheld exculpatory evidence from Baldwin, so she withheld it from Hannah Gutierrez.”
Nope.
“These local prosecutors have such little talent and experience they can’t even run a trial w/o it getting thrown out. “
The prosecutors had nothing to do with it getting thrown out.
The fix was in and there was nothing they could do to change that.
Yep. If Baldwin gets off scot free she should too.
“These local prosecutors “
She wasn’t a local prosecutor. She was a personal injury lawyer.
Under Brady v. US a prosecutor has a duty to disclose exculpatory evidence. She has a good case for setting aside the guilty verdict.
I agree with that. But I'm hoping his charges will be renewed but they can't suppress evidence.
I only have minimal experience with firearms, but I NEVER point a gun at someone, even if I just watched it being unloaded. NEVER. EVER! If I ever point a gun at someone in the future, it's because I intend to kill them.
Was it ever resolved if he knew that it was a fully functional firearm? Or did he think that it was a non functioning prop?
As a kids we all had cap guns and always pointed them at each other. We knew that they were “toys” and of course, we wouldn’t have done the same with a real firearm.
There are hundreds of movies and instances where a “gun and trigger pulled.”
The person who owns this failure is a expert who knows the difference — if it were a functioning firearm or a prop —and if functioning, should have instituted proper precautions.
Just because Baldwin is an idiot and we have good reason to dislike him, doesn’t mean that logic and reason should be discarded.
It was manslaughter at best.
I’m sure she does. She was the damn armorer. Shes responsible for every weapon on that set. This happened when she ws in that role. Has zip to do whatever anyone else did or didn’t do.
Yes, the prosecutor screwed up royally...............
Didn’t the unload the gun quickly?
thus contaminating any fingerprints on the bullet casings
“These local prosecutors have such little talent and experience they can’t even run a trial w/o it getting thrown out.”
A friend of mine became a lawyer later in life. He was so green he said the first divorce case he got he didn’t even know where to file the paperwork. He started doing public defender work just to make some money. He won every case that went to trial, or pleaded down to nothing for obvious guilty cases. He said the prosecutors were either totally incompetent or just didn’t care.
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