A New Mexico judge has upheld an involuntary manslaughter conviction against a movie armourer in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer by Alec Baldwin on the set of the Western film Rust. Armourer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed asked a court to dismiss her conviction or convene a new trial, alleging that prosecutors failed to share evidence that could have cleared her. Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer in her written order noted that the armourer's attorneys did not establish that there was a reasonable possibility that the outcome of the trial would have been different had the evidence been available to Gutierrez-Reed.
The judge also rejected a request from Gutierrez-Reed that she be released from custody, saying it was moot because the request for a new trial was denied. Marlow Sommer halted and ended Baldwin's trial in July based on misconduct of police and prosecutors and their withholding evidence from the defence in the 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set outside Santa Fe. Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer for Rust, was pointing a gun at Hutchins during a rehearsal on a movie set outside Santa Fe when the revolver went off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.
A jury convicted Gutierrez-Reed of involuntary manslaughter in March in a trial overseen by Marlowe Sommer, who later sentenced her to the maximum 18-month penalty. Gutierrez-Reed has an appeal of the conviction pending in a higher court. Jurors acquitted her of allegations she tampere.