ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The investigation into the tragic incident involving Alec Baldwin, where a cinematographer was shot and killed during a scene rehearsal in New Mexico, remains unsolved more than a year and a half later. The central enigma that authorities are grappling with is how live rounds ended up on the set.
According to the latest court filing by prosecutors, there is some evidence suggesting that weapons expert Hannah Gutierrez-Reed might be accountable for the introduction of the live rounds. However, no specific details have been provided. In the absence of additional evidence, the prosecution’s case against Gutierrez-Reed is now partially based on the argument that a night of drinking and marijuana use impaired her judgment, thereby jeopardizing the safety of the set.
Gutierrez-Reed’s defense attorneys contend that the prosecution is resorting to character assassination, and some legal experts question whether this approach will lead to a successful outcome for the prosecution.
Although several legal experts who have been closely following the case are not directly involved, they stated on Wednesday that the prosecution’s response to a defense motion last month, which sought to dismiss Gutierrez-Reed’s involuntary manslaughter charge, lacks clarity and would be challenging to substantiate.
Miguel Custodio, a personal injury attorney from Los Angeles, expressed his concerns regarding the investigation, stating, “When you think about how they’ve conducted this investigation since the beginning, it’s almost in step with what they had done before. They need to have more specificity when it comes to that allegation because it’s kind of serious. To be throwing it out there doesn’t look that good.”
According to prosecutors, they have witnesses who will testify that Gutierrez-Reed consumed alcohol and marijuana in the evenings during the filming of “Rust.” However, Gutierrez-Reed was never subjected to testing, and it remains unclear what evidence the prosecutors could present to support the claim that she may have been hungover when she loaded a live bullet into the actor’s revolver.
John Day, a criminal defense attorney based in Santa Fe, pointed out that the prosecutors did not explicitly state in their filing that Gutierrez-Reed was impaired. Instead, they used the colloquial term “hungover,” which could encompass various interpretations.
“It’s one more strange development, but it still doesn’t address—and they’ve said they don’t know—how live rounds got onto the set,” commented John Day. “And they haven’t specifically mentioned anything further about her involvement apart from her role as the armorer.”
A preliminary hearing for Gutierrez-Reed is set for August, during which a judge will determine whether there is probable cause to proceed with the charge.
The prosecutors, as stated in their filing, have mentioned their intention to decide within the next 60 days whether to recharge Alec Baldwin, pending the results of the gun analysis. Baldwin, who was also a producer on the film, had his involuntary manslaughter charge dismissed in April due to new evidence and the need for further investigation.
During a rehearsal on the set in October 2021, Baldwin accidentally fired a gun, resulting in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and the injury of director Joel Souza.
Ted Spaulding, an attorney from Atlanta not involved in the case, noted that while it would be easier to argue negligence based on active impairment, prosecutors could still assert that alcohol, drug use, and being hungover likely contributed to negligence.
“This will come down to whether or not they have credible evidence that an impairment in judgment caused the injury and that the impairment is linked to drug and alcohol use,” explained Spaulding. He further mentioned cases where the presence of marijuana in someone’s system has been argued to contribute to accidents or injuries. However, since Gutierrez-Reed was not immediately tested for marijuana after the shooting, there is no proof of marijuana in her system beyond witness testimony.
Miguel Custodio, another attorney, suggested that the prosecution’s insinuation of Gutierrez-Reed being hungover might actually favor the defense. He stated, “It’s pretty reasonable for the defense to say, ‘You’re just bringing this up now, which continues to show this pattern of sloppiness.’ Prosecutors saying she was ‘probably hungover’ sounds like a very tenuous assumption.”