‘Rust’ Trial to Start Next Week, as Judge Rejects Last-Minute Bid to Dismiss Case
The trial of “Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed will begin as planned next week, as a Santa Fe judge on Wednesday rejected a last-minute bid to throw out the case.
Gutierrez Reed’s lawyer, Jason Bowles, had argued that the case was irreparably tainted when the state turned over hundreds of attorney-client text messages to a key witness. But Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer refused to dismiss the case, finding that the disclosure was not prejudicial to the defense.
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Gutierrez Reed is set to go on trial on Feb. 21 on charges of involuntary manslaughter and tampering with evidence. She is accused of recklessly loading a live bullet into Alec Baldwin’s gun on the set of a Western film, leading to the death of Halyna Hutchins, the cinematographer.
Marlowe Sommer dealt with a series of pre-trial motions at a lengthy hearing on Wednesday.
On the motion to dismiss, Marlowe Sommer noted that Bowles had signed a consent form allowing detectives to search his client’s phone and that the form did not exclude attorney-client communications.
The judge also denied a defense motion to sever the two counts to be heard at separate trials.
Gutierrez Reed is accused of tampering with evidence by handing off a bag of cocaine to a friend after the shooting. The prosecution alleges that she was attempting to conceal evidence that she was impaired during filming.
The special prosecutor, Kari Morrissey, has also quoted from numerous text messages between Gutierrez Reed and others that make apparent reference to cocaine and marijuana.
The defense argued that the cocaine allegation is speculative, and that raising it would prejudice the jury on the manslaughter count.
The judge refused to sever the two counts, but did limit the references to intoxication that will be allowed at trial, finding that some of the state’s proposed evidence would be “unfair to the defendant.”
Morrissey had sought to exclude a report from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which faulted the production company for lax safety standards on set. The defense wants its experts to be able to rely on that report to deflect blame away from Gutierrez Reed. The judge denied the prosecution motion, ruling that the OSHA report should be allowed to be considered.
Marlowe Sommer also refused to allow the defense to call an expert witness on safety standards in union productions who came forward within the last 10 days. The prosecutor argued the witness was disclosed far too late, and that she had no time to prepare.
Bowles suggested that the trial could be delayed, but the judge was not interested in that.
“It’s too late,” Marlowe Sommer said. “I’m not going to continue the trial.”
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