Pool on Court TV
“Rust” actress Hannah Gutierrez-Reed as the guilty verdict was read in a New Mexico court in March.
CNN
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The surprising dismissal of the involuntary manslaughter case against actor Alec Baldwin due to hidden evidence may mean the release of the heroine of the movie “Rust” Hannah Gutierrez Reed from a New Mexico prison, legal experts. say.
Hannah Gutierrez Reed was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to 18 months in prison in March for the fatal shooting of movie star Halyna Hutchins, who was killed by a sniper. the gun Baldwin held in the western movie. 2021. He appeals his conviction.
But Baldwin’s case was filed on Friday — just two days after the trial began — with a sudden and shocking twist. and the twists and turns of nail-biting legal fun.
The judge ruled that the prosecution did not present evidence to the defense. The ruling was in response to an appeal by the actor’s lawyers, who argued that the government had not shared with them that the man had delivered to investigators a batch of untested firearms allegedly related to the case.
“Given the misconduct that caused Alec Baldwin’s case to be dismissed, it is clear that Hannah Gutierrez-Reed’s case must also be dismissed,” New York defense attorney Duncan Levin said in a statement. email.
“The government’s deliberate withholding of vital evidence has compromised the integrity of the entire judicial process. Justice demands that Anna’s wrongful conviction be overturned immediately, to ensure that the legal system does not perpetuate this grave injustice .”
Immediately after the trial, Gutierrez Reed’s attorney said he plans to file a motion for release.
“I fully expect Hannah Gutierrez Reed to make a similar argument to have her conviction overturned,” Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor told CNN. “I think this case didn’t win Alec Baldwin as much as it was thrown by the prosecution. … This testimony discredits and discredits Gutierrez Reed even more than Baldwin. ”
The evidence in question first came to light on Thursday. A forensics expert testified that the man had taken a box of guns to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office after Gutierrez Reed’s sentencing. Troy Teske, a retired police officer and friend of the veteran’s father, told investigators he believed the shootings could be linked to the “Rust” case, according to the testimony of forensic pathologist Marissa Poppell.
But, Poppell told the jury, the bullets were listed separately from the Baldwin case and were not included in the list of “Rust” cases or tested to see if they matched the fatality.
Baldwin’s defense team argued that prosecutors suppressed the evidence.
His attorneys argued that the government had “unanimously denied” evidence that could be useful in his case – a violation of the Brady Act, named after the 1963 case Brady v. Maryland. The law requires prosecutors to “disclose government information to the defense,” according to Cornell Law School.
On Friday, the case collapsed: The judge sent the jury home early, presiding over a chaotic, hours-long trial in which the lead prosecutor went from testifying to himself, and saw the special prosecutor suddenly resign.. In the end, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed the case with prejudice – meaning it cannot be returned. He called the concealment of evidence “willful and deliberate.”
Marlowe Sommer said: “The jury is under oath, there is confusion, and this announcement during the trial is so late that it undermines the defendant’s trial preparation.” “There is no way for the court to right this wrong.”
The “30 Rock” and “Hunt for Red October” star – who had pleaded not guilty and could have faced up to 18 months in prison – wept when the verdict was announced. He later hugged his wife Hilaria when the court was held for the day.
On October 21, 2021, Baldwin was on video practicing a cross draw — drawing a gun from a holster on the opposite side of his body in his drawn hand — with a prop gun when it fired, killed Hutchins. and injured director Joel Souza.
Jason Bowles, Gutierrez Reed’s attorney, told CNN Friday that he will seek freedom for his client.
“The judge found intentional wrongdoing and we had similar mistakes in Hannah’s case by the state. We will be moving to dismiss Hannah’s case,” said Bowles.
Sommer was also a judge in the arms dealer’s case.
His decision about failing to disclose the guns should carry more weight in the Gutierrez Reed case, CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson said.
“I think what you’re going to see is a submission from his attorney that gives an indication that when he was at trial, he didn’t have this information,” Jackson said.
“It is clear that it was under the control of the prosecution. It was obviously brought to the attention of the prosecutor. And prosecutors can’t make a single decision about whether something is important or valuable in a case. It is shared and then analyzed and analyzed.”
Rahmani, referring to Gutierrez Reed, said: “I fully expect the trial court or the appeals court to overturn the conviction. It will not be just Alec Baldwin who is a free man. Hannah Gutierrez Reed He will also be freed. And it is a tragedy for the victims in this matter.”
CNN’s John Campbell. Cheri Mossberg, Julia Vargas Jones, Jack Hannah and Eric Levenson contributed to this report.
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