Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer for the film Rust, has been denied both a new trial and release from a New Mexico state prison regarding the fatal 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer ruled that Gutierrez-Reed “has not established that there is a reasonable probability that, had the evidence been available to Defendant, the evidence would have produced a different verdict.”
The contested evidence involves bullets handed over to the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office by Troy Teske, a former Arizona police officer and close friend of Gutierrez-Reed’s father, who is also a Hollywood gun coach. Baldwin’s legal team never received this evidence, which has been deemed suppressed. The revelation of these bullets previously led to the dismissal of Alec Baldwin’s case, raising hopes for Gutierrez-Reed’s potential release.
Despite her recent sentencing to 18 months in prison for involuntary manslaughter, Gutierrez-Reed’s attorney, Jason Bowles, has expressed intentions to appeal both rulings. In April, she was convicted after a live round was discovered on the Rust set, resulting in Hutchins’s death and injuries to director Joel Souza.
On October 21, 2021, Baldwin, who was rehearsing with a Colt .45, accidentally discharged a live round, leading to the tragic incident. Baldwin has maintained that he did not pull the trigger, a claim disputed by various investigations, including those by the FBI. He currently faces numerous civil lawsuits related to the incident.
