(Los Angeles) Barely four days after the spectacular cancellation of Alec Baldwin’s trial for involuntary manslaughter on the set of his western Rustthe film’s gunsmith, challenged her conviction before the American courts on Tuesday.
On the set of the film in New Mexico in October 2021, the star brandished a gun that was supposed to hold only blanks, but instead fired a real projectile. The shot killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza.
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was in charge of the guns and ammunition on the set. In April, she was sentenced to 18 months in prison for accidentally loading the actor’s gun with a real bullet.
A sentence now weakened after the dramatic turn of events that occurred last week during Alec Baldwin’s trial in Santa Fe: his lawyers managed to have it annulled due to procedural errors.
The actor’s defense revealed that the prosecutor had not given him a batch of bullets related to the case, which could have explained how live ammunition, absolutely forbidden on film sets, ended up on the set of Rust.
PHOTO RAMSAY DE GIVE, REUTERS ARCHIVES
American actor Alec Baldwin hugs his lawyer Alex Spiro at the end of Baldwin’s trial for involuntary manslaughter at the Santa Fe County District Court in Santa Fe, U.S., July 12, 2024.
The ammunition was turned over to the Santa Fe sheriff earlier this year by a former police officer, who said it matched the bullet that killed Mr.me Hutchins, which would allow its origin to be established.
But the prosecutor never informed the defense of their existence. A violation considered as a withholding of evidence by the judge, who canceled the trial by castigating the behavior “bordering on bad faith” of the prosecution.
Tried separately, the film’s gunsmith had already appealed her conviction before this thunderbolt.
But M’s lawyersme Gutierrez-Reed is now demanding a retrial or overturn of her conviction. In court documents filed Tuesday, they allege “serious and ongoing violations of the prosecutor’s discovery process.”
Prosecutor Kari Morrissey, who is handling the entire case, “has lied to this court on multiple occasions,” they insist.
According to them, the prosecutor not only “participated in the decision to hide the bullets.” She also waited until the end of M’s trial.me Gutierrez-Reed to report on the existence of an interview with the arms supplier of Rust and an additional expert report on the gun at the heart of the tragedy.
This “intentional withholding of crucial evidence compromised the integrity of the entire judicial process,” they say.