Judge rejects "Rust" armorer's bid for dismissal or new trial

A Santa Fe judge on Monday denied “Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed’s bids for a retrial or dismissal of her conviction in a 2021 shooting death on a New Mexico movie set.

The rulings mean that Gutierrez Reed, 27, will continue serving her 18-month sentence in a New Mexico prison for her role in the Oct. 21, 2021, death of “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

District Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer rejected Gutierrez Reed’s arguments that prosecutors “buried” evidence that could have persuaded a 1st Judicial District Court jury to acquit her of involuntary manslaughter at her trial in March.

In a separate order, Marlowe Sommer rejected Gutierrez Reed’s motion seeking her release from prison while the case is under appeal.

In July, Marlowe Sommer tossed the involuntary manslaughter case against actor Alec Baldwin in mid-trial after finding that prosecutors failed to provide Baldwin’s legal team with crucial evidence.

That evidence included a batch of live bullets turned over to law enforcement by Troy Teske, a retired Arizona police officer, in the final days of Gutierrez Reed’s trial. Witnesses testified that the live rounds belonged to Gutierrez Reed’s father, veteran movie armorer Thell Reed.

The collection contained three Starline Brass .45-caliber rounds with similar characteristics to five live bullets found on the “Rust” set after the fatal shooting.

Gutierrez Reed has acknowledged loading a live round into a prop gun Baldwin was holding when it discharged during a rehearsal, fatally shooting Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza. But she denied bringing live rounds onto the set.

After the judge tossed Baldwin’s case, Gutierrez Reed’s attorney, Jason Bowles, filed a motion seeking a dismissal or a new trial for her, arguing that prosecutors withheld evidence from the defense.

Bowles argued in a virtual hearing last week that prosecutors failed to test the Teske rounds or provide them to the defense, depriving Gutierrez Reed of her rights.

Marlowe Sommer ruled in her order that prosecutors “did not suppress the Teske-supplied ammunition to defense attorneys.”

“Rather, Mr. Troy Teske and the ammunition in his possession were available” to the defense, “and yet (Gutierrez Reed) opted not to call Mr. Teske as a witness or seek to introduce the ammunition during the trial,” the judge wrote.

Special prosecutor Keri Morrissey argued in the hearing Thursday that Bowles had subpoenaed Teske as a witness and had an opportunity to view the live rounds during Gutierrez Reed’s trial.

Bowles argued last week that prosecutors chose to “bury and hide” the rounds, which could have supported the defense theory that someone other than Gutierrez Reed had supplied live rounds to the movie production.

“I was not able to see those rounds until the second to last day of trial,” Bowles told Marlowe Sommer on Thursday. Bowles said he directed Teske to hand over the rounds to law enforcement.

“I didn’t want to be in the chain of custody, nor did I want there to be any allegation that I had anything to do with something nefarious with regard to those rounds,” Bowles said.

Bowles also argued that prosecutors had failed to collect and test the Teske rounds. Morrissey responded that prosecutors were only required to turn over evidence collected at the crime scene.

Marlowe Sommer sided with prosecutors, finding that Gutierrez Reed “does not argue that the Teske-supplied ammunition was ever present at the crime scene.”

Bowles also argued that prosecutors failed to disclose an Aug. 31, 2023, supplemental report written by an Arizona firearms expert about the .45 Colt revolver Baldwin was holding when it discharged.

The supplemental report found microscopic defects on the firing mechanism of the firearm that Bowles argued could have assisted Gutierrez Reed’s defense.

Marlowe Sommer found in her order that it was unlikely the supplemental report would have affected the outcome of the trial.

“Thus, there is a lack of reasonable probability that had (Gutierrez Reed) possessed the Expert’s Supplemental Report, the result of the trial would have been different,” Marlowe Sommer wrote.