Weapons expert in Alec Baldwin case was likely hungover on set, prosecutors say
The weapons expert on “Rust†was drinking and smoking marijuana in the evenings during filming of the western, prosecutors have alleged in new court filings, saying she was likely hungover when she loaded a live bullet into Alec Baldwin’s revolver before the fatal shooting.
New Mexico prosecutors leveled the accusations late last week in a court filing in response to a motion filed by armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed’s attorneys, who have been seeking a dismissal of the involuntary manslaughter charges against her.
Gutierrez Reed, 25, is the sole member of the “Rust†crew still facing felony charges in the October 2021 shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins near Santa Fe.
Prosecutors dismissed involuntary manslaughter charges against Baldwin in late April, citing newly discovered information, but said they might eventually charge the actor. “There were serious issues concerning the evidence which warranted further investigation,†prosecutor Kari T. Morrissey wrote in the June 9 filing.
Sources have told The Times that Baldwin’s prop gun was modified before being delivered to the set of the low-budget western, increasing the odds that the gun might have misfired, as Baldwin has maintained.
Prosecutors said they would decide in the next 60 days whether to bring new charges against Baldwin.
In the meantime, they are pressing on in their prosecution against Gutierrez Reed, claiming she had a history of irresponsible conduct and should “finally be held accountable†for her actions.
“Her reckless failure resulted in the senseless death of another human being,†Morrissey wrote in the filing. “All Defendant Gutierrez needed to do was shake every bullet and make sure it rattled before putting it in the gun — she failed and killed someone.â€
Filming of “Rust†restarted in Montana this week as prosecutors dropped criminal charges against Alec Baldwin. Meanwhile, prosecutors are investigating new evidence that just surfaced, 18 months after the fatal shooting.
Morrissey described Gutierrez Reed as “the most culpable defendant in a case that resulted in the senseless death of another person.â€
She added: “The current prosecution team is dedicated to proceeding with the prosecution of Ms. Gutierrez in a fair and ethical manner.â€
Jason Bowles, Gutierrez Reed’s attorney, pushed back in a statement, saying the prosecution has mishandled the case.
“The case is so weak that they now have chosen to resort to character assassination claims about Hannah,†Bowles said in a statement to The Times. “The prosecution has abandoned the idea of doing justice and getting to the actual truth apparently.â€
New Mexico 1st Judicial District Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer previously scheduled a preliminary hearing for Gutierrez Reed in early August. That’s when the judge is expected to decide whether there’s probable cause for the case against Gutierrez Reed to move forward to trial.
Morrissey and her legal partner, Jason J. Lewis, were appointed to the case in March after the district attorney stepped down. Since then, the two Albuquerque attorneys have been trying to salvage the criminal prosecutions following a series of missteps by the previous team.
In the filing, Morrissey said they were awaiting results of an additional analysis of the gun and its broken sear, a part of the trigger mechanism. The gun fell apart during testing last year at the FBI lab in Virginia, according to court documents.
The items were sent to the state’s independent expert for further testing.
Baldwin was pointing a gun at Hutchins during a rehearsal in an old wooden church on the New Mexico film set in October 2021 when it went off, killing her and wounding Joel Souza, the film’s director. Souza has since recovered.
Gutierrez Reed’s attorneys had argued in their motion that the prosecution was “tainted by improper political motives†and that 1st Judicial Dist. Atty. Mary Carmack-Altwies and the initial special prosecutor she appointed, Andrea Reeb, “both used the tragic film set accident that resulted in the death of Halyna Hutchins as an opportunity to advance their personal interests.â€
The defense lawyers contend permanent damage was done to the gun by FBI testing before the defense could examine it.
They said that amounted to destruction of evidence and a violation of the court’s rules of discovery. They also argued that the “selective prosecution†of Gutierrez Reed was a violation of the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment.
Morrissey and Lewis have disputed those claims in their response, saying “nothing about this prosecution has or will be selective.â€
In the filing, Morrissey wrote that the collapse of the gun did not diminish the fact that Gutierrez Reed had loaded it with at least one live bullet. Sheriff’s deputies also found other live bullets had been co-mingled with “dummies†in Gutierrez Reed’s fanny pack, where she kept the ammunition for the guns in the western.
The prosecutors acknowledged the unanswered question of where the live rounds found on set came from.
“The current prosecution team is making a herculean effort to determine the identity of the person(s) responsible for the live rounds being introduced to the movie set,†Morrissey wrote. She also suggested there was evidence to support the theory that Gutierrez Reed herself may be responsible for introducing the live bullets on set and if so, more charges may follow.
But they offered no specifics in the filing as to what that evidence might be.
Morrissey blasted Gutierrez Reed’s attorneys. She said Bowles has appeared on numerous TV shows, on which he has spread “unfounded conspiracy theories†about sabotage on set in an improper attempt “to try to taint the jury in favor of his client.â€
The prosecutor pointed to several TV interviews, including with ABC’s “Good Morning America†in November 2021 — two weeks after the shooting. During that broadcast, Bowles said: “We’re afraid that could have been what happened here, that somebody intended to sabotage this set with a live round, intentionally placed in a box of dummies.â€
New Mexico rules of professional conduct forbid lawyers from spreading false information to create “a clear and present danger of prejudicing the proceeding,†according to the filing. Suggestions that someone else may have planted live ammunition was an attempt to “place blame on other crew members or co-defendants,†Morrissey wrote.
Bowles on Wednesday rejected the allegation that he had acted improperly.
“Our statements were made based on facts and information that we had and have continued to investigate,†Bowles said. “We were responding to false allegations against Hannah.â€
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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