The weapons supervisor on the set of the film Rust where Alec Baldwin shot and killed a cinematographer was likely hungover when she loaded a live bullet into the revolver that the actor used, prosecutors say.
The accusations come as a response to a motion filed by Hannah Gutierrez-Reed’s attorneys that seeks to dismiss her involuntary manslaughter charge.
The prosecutors accused her of having a history of reckless conduct and argued that it would be in the public interest for her to “finally be held accountable.”
Alec Baldwin inadvertently shot dead Halyna Hutchins on the set of the western film in October 2021.
Jason Bowles, Gutierrez-Reed’s attorney, said the prosecution has mishandled the case.
“The case is so weak that they now have chosen to resort to character assassination claims about Hannah,” Bowles told The Associated Press. “The prosecution has abandoned the idea of doing justice and getting to the actual truth apparently.”
A preliminary hearing for Gutierrez-Reed is scheduled in August. A judge is expected to decide then if there’s probable cause for Gutierrez-Reed’s charge to move forward.
The involuntary manslaughter charge faced by Baldwin, who also was a producer on the film, was dismissed in April, with prosecutors citing new evidence and the need for more time to investigate.
Baldwin was pointing a gun at cinematographer Ms Hutchins during a rehearsal on the New Mexico film set when it went off, killing her and wounding the film’s director, Joel Souza.
Gutierrez-Reed’s attorneys had argued in their motion that the prosecution was “tainted by improper political motives” and that Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies and the initial special prosecutor she appointed, Andrea Reeb, “both used the tragic film set accident that resulted in the death of Halyna Hutchins as an opportunity to advance their personal interests.”
The defense lawyers contend that the permanent damage done to the gun by FBI testing before the defense could examine it amounted to destruction of evidence and a violation of the court’s rules of discovery. They also argued that the “selective prosecution” of Gutierrez-Reed was a violation of the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment.
