GIST: "An attorney for convicted “Rust” movie armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed has filed a motion for a new trial or to have her case thrown out, after the related case against actor Alec Baldwin was dismissed last week.
The attorneys filed the motion Tuesday in Santa Fe First Judicial District Court, citing “egregious prosecutorial misconduct” and multiple allegations of “severe and ongoing discovery violations by the State.”
Gutierrez’s attorneys request the court order her prison release and the removal of Kari Morrissey as the special prosecutor “for the misconduct that has been found, and the violations committed in Ms. Gutierrez Reed’s case.”
On Friday, the involuntary manslaughter case against actor Alec Baldwin was dismissed after the judge overseeing the case ruled prosecutors did not properly turn over evidence to the defense.
Legal experts said the collapse of the actor’s case could result in Gutierrez Reed being freed from the New Mexico state prison where she’s serving an 18-month sentence following her conviction in March of involuntary manslaughter in the on-set fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in 2021.
Jason Bowles, Gutierrez Reed’s attorney, previously told CNN the same failures that caused the dismissal of the charges against Baldwin — specifically the prosecution’s withholding of evidence — were present in his client’s case.
“The judge found intentional misconduct and we also have had the same failures in Hannah’s case by the state. We will be moving for dismissal of Hannah’s case,” Bowles said. Gutierrez Reed previously filed an appeal of her conviction.
The shooting occurred October 21, 2021. Baldwin was on the set at a ranch outside Santa Fe practicing a “cross draw” with a prop gun – pulling it from a holster on the opposite side of his body from his draw hand – when it fired a live round, killing Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza.
As the armorer, Gutierrez Reed was responsible for firearm safety and storage. At her trial, prosecutors argued she repeatedly violated safety protocol and acted without caution in performing her duties, ultimately leading to Hutchins’ death. Gutierrez Reed’s defense attorney argued she has been scapegoated for the safety failures of film set management and other crew members.
Baldwin was two days into his own involuntary manslaughter trial when it imploded last Friday over revelations of withheld evidence.
Baldwin’s attorneys had filed a motion to dismiss the day prior, arguing the state withheld potentially favorable evidence – a violation of the Brady rule, which requires prosecutors to disclose such information to defendants. Specifically, the lawyers claimed the state did not share with them a man had delivered to investigators a batch of unexamined ammunition purportedly connected to the case after Gutierrez Reed’s conviction.
On Friday, during a chaotic, hourslong hearing, special prosecutor Kari Morrissey took the stand as a witness, testifying investigators had determined the ammunition was not a match to those found on the “Rust” set and had no evidentiary value. The lead investigator, however, testified the rounds looked “similar” to the dummy rounds on “Rust’s” set.
Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer ruled prosecutors did not properly turn over evidence to the defense. She dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning it cannot be brought again.
“I fully expect Hannah Gutierrez Reed to make the same argument for her conviction to be overturned,” Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor, told CNN. “This evidence is more exculpatory and exonerates Gutierrez Reed even more than Baldwin.
“It won’t just be Alec Baldwin who’s a free man,” Rahmani added. “Hannah Gutierrez Reed will go free as well. And it’s really a tragedy to the victims in this case.""
The entire story can be read at:
https://www.wbaltv.com/article/rust-armorer-attorney-files-for-dismissal/61617089PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
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FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
