Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed is claiming that New Mexico prosecutors buried evidence that could have helped clear her of involuntary manslaughter, report TMZ and Rolling Stone.
Gutierrez-Reed is currently serving 18 months in prison in connection with the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the Alec Baldwin-starring Western movie in October 2021.
According to TMZ, Gutierrez-Reed’s attorney, Jason Bowles, filed new legal documents on Thursday, June 27, accusing prosecutors of burying a report that claims there were “unexplained” alterations made to the trigger of the gun that killed Hutchins.
Rolling Stone said the report, which was used on Monday, June 24, in a pretrial evidentiary hearing ahead of Baldwin’s own involuntary manslaughter trial, was conducted by a gun expert last summer.
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In his report, expert Lucien Haag noted markings that did “not appear to be original manufacturing marks” or the result of damage from FBI testing on the weapon in 2022, per Rolling Stone.
Gutierrez-Reed’s attorney says the report may have proved that Baldwin didn’t pull the trigger and, as such, his client wasn’t legally responsible for Hutchins’ death, per TMZ.
Bowles claims prosecutors “withheld bombshell exculpatory evidence that it had a constitutional obligation to disclose and that would have resulted in a fundamentally different trial and likely a different outcome,” according to TMZ, which said it had obtained the documents.
However, during Monday’s evidentiary hearing in Baldwin’s case, Haag, the gun expert, testified he no longer stands by his report and now believes the marks were made during FBI testing using a mallet, reports Rolling Stone.
Gutierrez-Reed was found guilty on March 6 and sentenced to prison the following month on April 15. She was responsible for the firearms on the New Mexico set of Rust when Hutchins was fatally injured in 2021. The 42-year-old cinematographer was struck by a live round of ammunition discharged from a gun held by Baldwin during rehearsals. Director Joel Souza was also injured.
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Gutierrez-Reed’s lawyers filed a motion to appeal the conviction on May 13, according to court documents obtained by TMZ. Gutierrez-Reed is also requesting to be released from prison pending the outcome of the appeal.
“Ms. Gutierrez-Reed is requesting to be released while she appeals, as if her appeal is successful, she will have served most or all of her sentence anyway, rendering a large part of the appeal meaningless,” her lawyers argued in the motion, per TMZ.
Us Weekly has reached out to Gutierrez-Reed’s attorney and the lead prosecutor in her case, Kari T Morrissey, for comment.
