'Rust' armorer says state withheld evidence, requests release from prison
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/rust-armorer-says-state-withheld-evidence-requests-release-prison-2024-06-28/
'Rust' armorer says state withheld evidence, requests release from prison
By Brad Brooks
June 28, 2024 4:55 AM EDT Updated 2 hours ago
June 27 (Reuters) - Lawyers for Hannah Gutierrez, the chief weapons handler for the Western movie "Rust," said in a Thursday court filing that prosecutors withheld evidence that would have favored the defendant during her manslaughter trial.
The filing comes as a New Mexico judge is expected to rule on Friday on a request from Alec Baldwin's legal team that a manslaughter charge against him for the on-set shooting during the filming of "Rust" be tossed out.
[...]
According to the filing, state prosecutors possessed a report from their own weapons experts that the gun used on the set of "Rust" had "unexplained toolmarks on critical surfaces of the trigger and sear."
That, Gutierrez's attorney Jason Bowles said, is evidence that the gun could have accidentally fired, as both Baldwin and Gutierrez's legal teams have argued, and could have led to her not being found guilty at trial.
[...]