A judge in New Mexico has allowed a hearing for Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed to take place in September to determine whether she could be set free or receive a new trial.
In March, Gutierrez-Reed, 27, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for her role in the fatal on-set shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in October 2021.
Gutierrez-Reed is currently serving an 18-month prison sentence, which her lawyers have been working to overturn since Alec Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter charges were dismissed last month.
They’re now one step closer to this as Gutierrez-Reed has an online hearing set for September 27 at 3:30 p.m. EST. The court will consider her motion for immediate release from detention and a motion for a new trial or dismissal. The hearing will be live-streamed on the New Mexico Courts YouTube channel.
Newsweek has contacted Gutierrez-Reed’s lawyers for comment.
Gutierrez-Reed has admitted to loading the gun containing the bullet that killed Hutchins but continuously denied bringing live rounds onto the set. A 12-person jury found the armorer not guilty of evidence tampering related to accusations of giving another crew member a bag of cocaine, but guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
Gutierrez-Reed’s lawyer, Jason Bowles, previously argued that the armorer was being used as a “scapegoat.”
“They’re trying to blame it all on Hannah, a 24-year-old,” Bowles said. “Because why? Because she’s an easy target. She’s the least powerful person on that set.”
Last month, a judge dismissed Baldwin’s case, agreeing that the prosecution suppressed evidence. Bowles immediately filed a motion for Gutierrez-Reed’s freedom following Baldwin’s victory. Bowles also accused special prosecutor Kari T. Morrissey of withholding evidence ahead of the Gutierrez-Reed trial.
“There can be no legitimate debate that the state violated Ms. Gutierrez’s due process rights,” Bowles wrote in his motion, asking the judge to “order a new trial or dismissal of the case for egregious prosecutorial misconduct. The Court should also order Ms. Gutierrez’s release.”
Meanwhile, Baldwin celebrated his trial being over in an Instagram post, which included a photo of him sitting in the courtroom.
“There are too many people who have supported me to thank just now,” he wrote in July. “To all of you, you will never know how much I appreciate your kindness toward my family.”
Rust writer-director Joel Souza was also struck by the bullet that killed Hutchins. He addressed the tragic accident for the first time in an interview with Vanity Fair, also sharing his thoughts on guns on movie sets.
“My recommendation is this: that no guns should ever be allowed,” Souza told the outlet. “Nothing real that can fire anything. It should all be fake from here on to eternity. And there should still be armorers even because it’s fake, because they’re still not safe unless there’s an armorer.”
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