Prosecutors Will Refile Charges on Alec Baldwin if Gun Was Working During ‘Rust’ Filming

By: Friedrich Seiltgen

Copyright © 2023

Prosecutors in New Mexico say they will refile manslaughter charges against Alec Baldwin if further testing shows that the pistol he was handling was working during the “Rust” shooting.

Manslaughter charges against Baldwin were dropped back in April by special prosecutors Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis.

Baldwin had been charged with negligently pulling the trigger, causing the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, but Baldwin’s lawyers raised doubt that the gun was working properly at the time.

The FBI analyzed the pistol last year and broke it during testing. However, in a recent court filing, Morrissey and Lewis said the gun was sent to an independent expert for further testing.

“If it is determined that the gun did not malfunction, charges against Mr. Baldwin will proceed,” the prosecutors wrote.

A charging decision is expected within 60 days.

Prosecutors have also said they are concentrating efforts to determine who introduced live ammunition onto the set of “Rust.”

Currently, the only pending charges in the case are against Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the film’s armorer. Gutierrez Reed’s attorneys have sought to throw out the involuntary manslaughter charge, claiming procedural missteps by the Santa Fe D.A.’s office.

Santa Fe D.A. Mary Carmack-Altwies and special prosecutor Andrea Reeb initially filed the charges. The judge on the case later ruled that the two could not co-prosecute the case under the state’s special prosecutor statute. Carmack-Altwies has since recused herself and appointed the new two special prosecutors.

Gutierrez Reed’s lawyer, Jason Bowles, has argued that the case is partly invalid because it was brought by two prosecutors who should not have worked together. In response, the new special prosecutors refiled the case under their own names.

In opposing Bowles’ motion to throw the case out, Morrissey and Lewis revealed a few additional details about the case against Gutierrez Reed. She is accused of negligently loading a live round into Baldwin’s gun.

“Witnesses in the current case will testify that Defendant Gutierrez was drinking heavily and smoking marijuana in the evenings during the shooting of ‘Rust,’” the prosecutors wrote. “It is likely that Defendant Gutierrez was hungover when she inserted a live bullet into a gun that she knew was going to be used at some point by an actor while filming a shooting scene with other actors and crew members. The crime of involuntary manslaughter was designed specifically for this type of circumstance.”

The prosecutors also stated that Sarah Zachry, the prop master, “discarded some rounds of ammunition in a panic after the shooting an in an attempt to make the set safer.” They further alleged that Gutierrez Reed unloaded the gun, handed the ammunition to another person, and “walked off with the firearm for a considerable amount of time before law enforcement arrived on the scene.”

Gutierrez-Reed was also charged with evidence tampering for allegedly passing drugs to someone else on the day of the shooting.

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed “did transfer narcotics to another person with the intent to prevent the apprehension, prosecution or conviction of herself,” the special prosecutors appointed in the case said in a Santa Fe County court filing. They gave no further details.

Gutierrez-Reed’s attorney Jason Bowles called the move “retaliatory and vindictive.”

“It is shocking that after 20 months of investigation, the special prosecutor now throws in a completely new charge against Ms. Gutierrez Reed, with no prior notice or any witness statements, lab reports, or evidence to support it,” Bowles said.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for August.

That’s all for now, folks! Please keep sending in your questions, tips, and article ideas. And as always – “Let’s Be Careful Out There.”

Friedrich Seiltgen is a retired Master Police Officer with 20 years of service with the Orlando Police Department. He conducts training in Lone Wolf Terrorism Counterstrategies, Firearms, and Active Shooter Response. His writing has appeared in RECOIL, www.floridajolt.com, The Counterterrorist Magazine, American Thinker, Soldier of Fortune, Homeland Security Today, Off Grid, and The Journal of Counterterrorism & Homeland Security International.

Contact him at [email protected].