Alec Baldwin’s defense in ‘Rust’ fatal shooting trial could get major boost from ‘botched’ prosecution: expert
Actor charged with involuntary manslaughter twice in connection to fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
Alec Baldwin’s defense will get a “free preview” and a “good argument” against his involuntary manslaughter charges as prosecutors will take Hannah Gutierrez-Reed to court first.
Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer for the “Rust” movie, faces the New Mexico prosecution in court beginning Feb. 21 on charges that stem from the Oct. 21, 2021, fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the film set. Baldwin is currently not included on the witness list for her trial.
Meanwhile, Baldwin’s legal team has a status hearing scheduled for Feb. 20. The appearance will be the first in his new case. Dates for the actor’s trial have not been set at this time.
“The case has been botched for many reasons. One of which is that now Baldwin gets to go second,” former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told Fox News Digital. “So, one of two things will happen. Either Hannah Gutierrez-Reed will get convicted, and Baldwin will easily be able to point to the empty chair of this trial and say, ‘Well, listen, here’s the culpable person. The DA prosecuted her. They convicted her. And why are you coming after me? You know, here’s the person who’s responsible, right?'”
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Alec Baldwin was indicted on charges of involuntary manslaughter for a second time on Jan. 19. (Santa Fe County Sheriffs Department)
“But even if she’s acquitted, Baldwin now gets a preview of all the evidence, the documents, the photographs, the videos that are admitted, all the witness testimony,” he continued. “He knows exactly what everyone’s going to say.”
Baldwin was indicted on charges of involuntary manslaughter on Jan. 19 in connection to the fatal shooting of Hutchins. Gutierrez-Reed, who is also facing charges of involuntary manslaughter, worked on the film as the armorer – meaning she was responsible for proper handling of the firearms on set.
During a hearing Wednesday, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer denied Gutierrez-Reed’s request to sever the charges against her: evidence tampering and involuntary manslaughter. The move effectively allows the prosecution to bring up the armorer’s alleged drug use in the days leading up to the fatal shooting on the set of “Rust.”
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Hannah Gutierrez-Reed’s trial in the “Rust” case is to begin on Feb. 21 with jury selection. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong | Instagram)
Through court documents and pretrial hearings, the special prosecutors have laid out their case against Gutierrez-Reed. Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis plan to introduce text messages that reportedly indicate the armorer was smoking marijuana in the evenings leading up to the fatal shooting. The prosecution has also obtained photos that they said prove Gutierrez-Reed was the one who brought the live ammunition to the set to begin with.
“In addition to the defendant’s own text message exchanges and statements by Ms. Zachry, there are witnesses that Ms. Gutierrez was high on marijuana in her hotel room in Santa Fe while simultaneously in possession of boxes of ammunition for use on the set of the movie,” a court document filed by the state on Jan. 31 reads.
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed appears in court as she faces charges of evidence tampering and involuntary manslaughter. (New Mexico Administrative Office of the Courts)
Gutierrez-Reed also reportedly admitted in an interview with detectives on Nov. 9, 2021, that she had smoked marijuana after completing her work for the day.
The prosecution insists that “daily use of several mind-altering substances may have contributed to her inability to tell the difference” between live ammunition and the dummy rounds that were supposed to have been loaded into Baldwin’s gun that day. “A jury could reasonably conclude that a person who uses marijuana, alcohol, and cocaine in the evening and begins work at 6:00 am may still be impaired in the morning.”
Gutierrez-Reed has also been accused of handing off a bag of cocaine the same day as the fatal shooting.
“The fact is that Ms. Gutierrez off-loaded a bag of cocaine to an acquaintance in order to prevent law enforcement from catching on that she was using drugs,” Morrissey wrote in the Jan. 31 filing. “She handed off the baggie to an acquaintance within a couple hours of returning from her interview with [sheriffs’] detectives.”
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer for the “Rust” movie, is seen in bodycam video answering a deputy’s questions after the fatal shooting on Oct. 21, 2021. (Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office)
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The armorer’s legal team likely tried to exclude the evidence related to drug use “as it could “prejudice the jury,” Kate Mangels, partner at Kinsella Holley Iser Kump Steinsapir LLP, told Fox News Digital.
“Even if there isn’t direct evidence that Gutierrez was intoxicated or under the influence of drugs when making any decision that led to the death of Hutchins, a jury could view her generally as a drug user and ignore that lack of evidence,” she continued.
“The only way this could impact Baldwin’s trial is if it makes it more likely that the prosecution can get a conviction on Gutierrez,” Mangels added. “Whether or not Gutierrez is convicted will likely impact Baldwin’s strategy at trial of how much to make of Gutierrez’s role as an armorer in relation to Baldwin’s role as an actor/producer.”
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Alec Baldwin finished filming “Rust” this past May. (Reuters)
Baldwin has maintained that he did not pull the trigger of the gun on Oct. 21, 2021. He had been practicing a cross-draw that Hutchins was thinking of adding to the script at the time of the shooting.
“The trigger wasn’t pulled. I didn’t pull the trigger,” Baldwin told George Stephanopoulos in an interview shortly after the fatal shooting.
“No, no, no, no, I would never point a gun at anyone and pull the trigger. Never.”
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However, the FBI conducted an accidental-discharge test and determined the gun used in the fatal shooting of Hutchins “could not be made to fire without a pull of the trigger,” ABC News reported.
Baldwin was originally charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter on Jan. 31, 2023, and the charges were later dropped in April.
