Prosecutors oppose new trial request
Special prosecutors handling the criminal case against Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed are opposing her motion for a new trial.
Prosecutors said in a court filing Thursday the facts of Gutierrez-Reed’s case differ significantly from those of a case in which the state Supreme Court reversed convictions on the grounds jury instructions using the term “and/or” could confuse jurors.
State District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer is scheduled to consider the motions at a hearing Wednesday, according to online court records.
A Santa Fe County jury convicted Gutierrez-Reed of involuntary manslaughter earlier this month in connection with the 2021 shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Hutchins, 42, died after being struck by a bullet that came from a gun Rust star and producer Alec Baldwin was holding during a walk-through of a scene at Bonanza Creek Ranch south of Santa Fe.
Jury instructions in Gutierrez-Reed’s case said jurors could find her guilty of the charge if they determined the state had proved she’d loaded the real bullet [instead of a dummy] into the gun “and/or” if they determined the state had proved she failed to perform an adequate safety check on the weapon.
Jurors deliberated for less than three hours before finding her guilty. She is scheduled to be sentenced next month.
Gutierrez-Reed’s lawyer Jason Bowles filed an emergency motion seeking a new trial last week, citing a state Supreme Court ruling issued about a week after her conviction that reversed convictions in another high-profile case on the grounds the use of the term “and/or” could confuse jurors.
Prosecutors are arguing her case is different, in part because the “and/or” language was used only to give jurors a choice between two possibilities, while in the case reversed by the Supreme Court ruling it was used in a paragraph that asked jurors to choose between at least four options.
Baldwin is also being charged with involuntary manslaughter in the case and is scheduled to go to trial in July, though his attorneys have filed a motion to dismiss on the grounds prosecutors botched the grand jury proceeding. That motion has not yet been set for a hearing.
Special prosecutors Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis filed a motion Wednesday asking the court to extend the time they have to reply to Baldwin’s motion from March 29 to April 5, saying they need extra time because the two motions to dismiss were filed on the same day and there are only two of them working on the case.
“Ms. Gutierrez has two attorneys defending her case and Mr. Baldwin has approximately six attorneys defending his case,” the prosecutors wrote in the unopposed motion.