‘Rust’ Armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed Wants Fatal Movie Shooting Case Dismissed; Gun That Killed Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins Receiving New Forensic Testing

deadline.com:

All charges have been dropped against Alec Baldwin over the fatal shooting of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in October 2021, and a resurrected version of the film has almost completed filming in Montana, but the legal battle could be far from over.

As Baldwin is off the hook for now, the person who was responsible for guns on the Rust set is trying to have the involuntary manslaughter charges still pending against her dismissed by the New Mexico judge, due in no small part to an allegedly incompetent Santa Fe District Attorney’s office and an allegedly flawed case. “They directed a sloppy investigation in which key evidence was destroyed, made overly aggressive charging decisions, including an elementary Constitutional mistake, and undertook road shows to disparage Reed and to promote their own personal brands,” lawyers for former Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed charged of DA Mary Carmack-Altwies and former special prosecutor Andrea Reeb in a motion to dismiss filed today (read it here). “Because this prosecution was motivated by personal interests — not the facts or the law — it was shaped with the goal of prevailing in the court of public opinion, not a jury trial,” attorneys Jason Bowles and Todd Bullion added in the damning 33-page filing. “As a result, corners were cut and the prosecution team committed other due process and ethical violations.” Following the release of an FBI-assisted investigation by the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s office last November, Baldwin and Reed in January were formally charged by prosecutors with two counts of involuntary manslaughter in Hutchins’ death.

Inching toward a much-delayed preliminary examination, aka minitrial, this summer, Reed is looking at a maximum of 18 months