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Hannah Gutierrez Reed’s demand for a new trial after being convicted of involuntary manslaughter might be an “uphill battle,” an expert advised Fox News Digital.
The “Rust” armorer will return to court docket Friday to argue for a new trial and an instantaneous launch from jail. Gutierrez Reed faces as much as 18 months in jail, along with a $5,000 fantastic, after a jury convicted her of involuntary manslaughter in early March within the taking pictures of Halyna Hutchins on the set of “Rust.”
“Gutierrez Reed has an uphill battle both in her motion for a new trial and eventual appeal,” former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani advised Fox News Digital. “Though the judge ruled that the jurors have to be unanimous on the manslaughter charge (there were two), they did not have to be unanimous on how the live rounds got on set.
“That is mostly an accurate assertion of the regulation,” he added. “The verdict must be unanimous, however not how the jurors get there.”
Hannah Gutierrez Reed is requesting a new trial after being convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the “Rust” shooting. (Courtesy: New Mexico Courts)
The armorer’s trial, which began Feb. 21, included testimony from weapons experts, FBI and Santa Fe County authorities and crew members who witnessed the fatal shooting.
However, her legal team doesn’t believe the jury was given proper instructions. According to Gutierrez Reed’s lawyer, Jason Bowles, the instructions “might confuse the jury and result in a non-unanimous verdict.”
Bowles cited a New Mexico Supreme Court ruling in a motion for a new trial in court documents obtained by Fox News Digital.
“In Taylor, the Court reversed little one abuse convictions on jury instruction error,” the documents state. “Specifically, the Court criticized using and/or in itemizing varied acts the jury might discover dedicated by the defendants. The Court additionally famous that such drafting of the directions might confuse the jury and result in a non-unanimous verdict on any explicit act.
“This is precisely the argument that Ms. Gutierrez Reed made in jury instruction arguments before this Court.”
ALEC BALDWIN’S ‘RUST’ ARMORER CONVICTED OF INVOLUNTARY MANSLAUGHTER
The set of “Rust,” the place the taking pictures befell. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
WATCH: ALEC BALDWIN DODGES QUESTIONS ABOUT INVOLUNTARY MANSLAUGHTER TRIAL
Gutierrez Reed’s staff introduced up the opportunity of jury instruction error earlier than the trial, however “these arguments were overruled, and the State made the same instructional error in this case, using ‘and/or’ acts and allowing the jury to not be unanimous on any one particular act.”
Special prosecutors Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis argued that the jury directions have been “neither confusing nor legally insufficient.”
“While the Court makes it clear that the use of ‘and/or’ should be avoided in jury instructions, the test for determining whether instructions are legally insufficient is far more complex,” the prosecution wrote within the reply, obtained by Fox News Digital.
Hannah Gutierrez Reed was convicted of involuntary manslaughter March 6. (Courtesy: New Mexico Courts)
Jim Brosnahan, who represented the manufacturing firm concerned within the on-set taking pictures of “The Crow,” defined that Gutierrez Reed does have a shot at a new trial as a result of prison circumstances usually do require a unanimous verdict.
“If that’s true in these directions, the prospect of a new trial are significantly better,” he advised Fox News Digital. “There are many cases in other states that require unanimity in criminal cases. The case in the New Mexico Supreme Court should help a lot on appeal if not by the trial court.”
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If Gutierrez Reed is granted a new trial, she might be acquitted.
“It would be a new jury,” Brosnahan defined. “There would have been a pall cast over the first jury because of the judge granting a new trial and instructions in the new trial that the jury should disregard anything that they know about any prior proceedings. Those words ‘prior proceedings’ are usually the ones used, so I think she’d have a decent chance at acquittal.”
Hannah Gutierrez Reed seems to be at her mom, Stacy Reed, as she is taken into custody after the responsible verdict throughout her trial March 6, 2024, in Santa Fe, N.M. (Luis Sánchez Saturno/Pool/Getty Images)
Hutchins, the “Rust” cinematographer, died after being shot by a gun actor Alec Baldwin was holding whereas staging a scene in a small church at Bonanza Creek Ranch in 2021. Baldwin will head to court docket for his personal involuntary manslaughter trial in July, and Gutierrez Reed getting a new trial might have an effect on his personal, Rahmani defined.
“There are many different theories of why Baldwin was criminally negligent,” the West Coast Trial Lawyers founder advised Fox News Digital. “He didn’t check the gun, he pointed it at another human being and he pulled the trigger even though he denied it. The jurors don’t have to all agree on what made him negligent, but they have to agree that he was criminally negligent to convict.”
Alec Baldwin will head to court docket in July for his personal involuntary manslaughter trial. (Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department)
Halyna Hutchins died after being shot on the set of “Rust” in October 2021. (Fred Hayes/Getty Images for SAGindie)
Brosnahan does not consider Gutierrez Reed and Baldwin’s circumstances are related.
“Alec Baldwin was not in charge of safety. In fact, he has an excellent argument that someone else was in charge of safety,” he defined. “He also can argue reasonably that he relied on the fact that he knew there was someone else in charge of safety.
“Even better than these arguments, Alec Baldwin has the argument of follow, behavior and cheap anticipation all pointing to a gun with blanks. It seems that he had no information that the gun had a stay bullet. And primarily based on his expertise and experience, maybe different actors might testify that he had each purpose to consider that the gun solely had blanks.”
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During Gutierrez Reed’s trial, the prosecution largely focused on Gutierrez Reed’s behavior as an armorer, claiming she didn’t do her job correctly.
“Hannah Gutierrez knew that Baldwin was free. She knew it,” Morrissey said during closing arguments. “She did not do something about it, regardless that it was her job. It was her job. It is her job to say to an A-list actor, if actually, that is what you need to name him, ‘Hey, you possibly can’t behave that manner with these firearms.’ That is her job. That is what they pay her for. That is the job that she utilized for. That is the job that she accepted.”
Gutierrez Reed’s trial began with jury selection Feb. 21. (Courtesy: New Mexico Courts)
Gutierrez Reed’s legal team told the jury the prosecution hadn’t presented enough evidence to convict the armorer of involuntary manslaughter.
“They cannot are available right here with a straight face and mock us and criticize us and inform you they’ve given you adequate to convict her past an affordable doubt as a result of they have not,” Bowles said.
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Bowles claimed there were factors outside of Gutierrez Reed’s control that occurred on set, leading to the fatal shooting.
“Whoever put the stay spherical on set after which Mr. Baldwin, ultimately, going off script and doing what he did,” the lawyer said. “Those are outdoors occasions outdoors of Ms. Gutierrez Reed’s management that she did not know was going to occur.”
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