Alec Baldwin‘s involuntary manslaughter trial abruptly ended in July with the dismissal of the case after a last-minute hearing over how police and prosecutors treated a handful of bullets. It related to a retired law enforcement officer turning over a collection of live ammunition to the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office, some of which matched the bullets found on the Rust set. While the rounds were taken in, they weren’t inventoried under the proper case, effectively hiding the evidence from Baldwin.
The unexpected discovery of that ammunition also inserted doubt into whether armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who’s serving an 18-month sentence for the accidental shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, got a fair trial. And on Thursday, she moved to dismiss the case against her or alternatively receive a new trial for what her lawyer Jason Bowles called “one of the biggest debacles of ethical misconduct in the history of New Mexico.”
Santa Fe Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer is expected to issue a ruling next week. She could find that Gutierrez-Reed should be released from prison while she awaits another jury trial if the case against her isn’t tossed.
The armorer’s legal maneuvering revolves around dismissal of Baldwin’s case by the court, which denounced the prosecution for misconduct after finding that it “intentionally and deliberately withheld” evidence from the defense. Lead special prosecutor Kari Morrissey, it concluded, not only repeatedly failed to fulfill discovery obligations but also gave “inconsistent” testimony related to the ammunition handed over by retired Arizona police officer Troy Teske. It was revealed that the rounds he provided had Starline brass casings with silver primers that matched the live bullet that killed Hutchins.
During Thursday’s hearing, Bowles argued that Gutierrez-Reed is entitled to a new trial because the prosecution “buried” the evidence. If he was aware of the rounds, he said he would’ve advanced the theory that Seth Kenney, owner of a props and arms supplier that furnished the Rust production with ammunition and weapons, introduced the live rounds onto the set. That’s a “real possibility,” he added. “That’s something the jury should’ve been able to consider, but [prosecutors] never wanted to entertain any possible defense theory, which is why they suppressed everything.”
The source of the live ammunition was a key focus of the investigation into the shooting. The prosecution, for years, has maintained that they likely came from Gutierrez-Reed. But when the new rounds were uncovered in Baldwin’s trial, his lawyers suggested that Kenney could’ve been responsible. Kenney came into possession of some of that ammunition from when he and longtime Hollywood armorer Thell Reed, Gutierrez-Reed’s father, were involved in a so-called “cowboy training camp” on the Paramount+ Western 1883 in which live ammunition was used for shooting practice. Teske held that ammunition for Reed, who stored some of his arms at the former law enforcement officer’s home. Kenney also brought some of those rounds back to PDQ Arm and Prop in New Mexico.
Morrissey said that the first time she learned that the Teske-supplied ammunition looked similar to the rounds uncovered on the Rust set was in open court the day Baldwin’s case was dismissed. She questioned the integrity of the evidence Teske, a longtime friend of Reed, provided, explaining that the rounds in his possession were ruled out as the source of those found on the production after the ex-police officer sent Kenney a picture of the rounds he was holding for Reed. That photograph, she said, showed that the ammunition wasn’t a match.
“Teske said he reviewed the rounds and said he couldn’t find any silver primers,” Morrissey added. “The state understands at that point that the ammunition he’s in possession of doesn’t look remotely similar to those found on the set of Rust.”
A month before Gutierrez-Reed’s trial, Bowles came to the same conclusion that the rounds Teske had weren’t a match and chose not to test them, the prosecutor continued. “He doesn’t get to come to court now and say ‘Hey we should’ve collected these,’” she said. “The information he gave us caused us to believe they were completely immaterial.”
In response, Bowles said he didn’t want to be in the “chain of custody” for the evidence “nor did I want there to be any allegation that I had anything to do with something nefarious with regard to those rounds.” He added, “I thought naively that state would do the right thing and test them. Never in a million years did I think that state would try to hide those in separate file under a separate case number.”
Additionally, Bowles argued that Morrissey should be disqualified as lead prosecutor if a new trial is granted. “The egregious nature of prosecutorial misconduct, specifically by Ms. Morrissey and her false tesimtony, is a blow to the whole system of justice,” he said.
Sommer will issue separate rulings on whether Gutierrez-Reed is entitled to a new trial or have the charges against her dismissed entirely and whether she should immediately be released from custody.
