The prosecutor in the “Rust” case argued that Alec Baldwin‘s manslaughter charge was improperly thrown out because the judge misunderstood the evidence at a crucial hearing.
In a filing made public Monday, special prosecutor Kari Morrissey said she is “still struggling” to understand the judge’s ruling. She also argued there are no grounds to overturn the conviction of “Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed, who is serving an 18-month sentence in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
Baldwin’s case was dismissed in the middle of trial last month, after it was revealed that the prosecution had failed to disclose a batch of bullets, three of which appeared to match the live bullets found on the film set. In a written order last week, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer faulted Morrissey for “willful and deliberate misconduct” and for eliciting false testimony about the bullets in front of the jury.
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Gutierrez Reed has filed a motion for a new trial on similar grounds, arguing that the prosecutor withheld exculpatory evidence in that case as well.
Morrissey argued that the cache of bullets is not exculpatory for either Baldwin or Gutierrez Reed, and that no witness in either case ever saw them, possessed them, or knew about them. She also argued that Baldwin’s lawyers were not harmed by the lack of disclosure because they knew about the bullets before the trial.
Gutierrez Reed’s lawyers have argued that her conviction should be thrown out because the state failed to turn over an interview with weapons supplier Seth Kenney and a forensic report that found unexplained toolmarks on Baldwin’s gun, both of which were given to the defense only after the trial.
Defense attorney Jason Bowles also faulted Morrissey for failing to take possession of the batch of bullets before the trial and have them tested. If the bullets matched the live rounds, the defense could have used that to argue that Kenney had mistakenly supplied the live rounds to set — thereby mitigating Gutierrez Reed’s culpability.
In response, Morrissey argued that the evidence shows that Gutierrez Reed got the bullets from her father, armorer Thell Reed. She also stated that the undisclosed Kenney interview merely repeated statements he had made elsewhere. She said that forensic report was not helpful to Gutierrez Reed’s defense, because the defense maintained that the gun was functioning properly.
She faulted Bowles for failing to uncover the undisclosed report during pre-trial questioning of the state’s gun expert. Bowles has said that had the report been disclosed, it would have changed his strategy and might have led to a different outcome.
Gutierrez Reed has been in custody since her conviction on March 6. No hearing date has been set for the motion for a new trial.
