Rust
- Thread starter Peter C.
- Start date
Alec Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter trial for the fatal 2022 shooting of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was dismissed today by a New Mexico judge.
“The state has repeatedly made representations to defense and to the court that they were compliant with all their discovery obligations,” said Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer in her ruling from the bench just now. “Despite their repeated representations, they have continued to fail to disclose critical evidence to the defendant.”
“The state is highly culpable for its failure to provide discovery to the defendant,” the judge, added in a measured tone. “Dismissal with prejudice is warranted,” she concluded, ending any hope of the state recharging Baldwin again.
As well, the decision by Judge Sommer on Friday at the end of an evidentiary hearing over a defense motion to dismiss and bullets dropped off to Santa Fe police in recent weeks by ex-Arizona cop Troy Teske could see incarcerated Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed released from state prison in the Land of Enchantment.
Gutierrez-Reed’s lawyers plan to file a motion for her release asap, Judge Sommer was also the judge in the armorer’s trial. In Santa Fe right now, Gutierrez-Reed had been brought into the city earlier this week from her prison, where she is serving an 18 months sentence out of her own Rust trial, in the assumption she would be a witness possibly today in Baldwin’s trial
“The state has repeatedly made representations to defense and to the court that they were compliant with all their discovery obligations,” said Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer in her ruling from the bench just now. “Despite their repeated representations, they have continued to fail to disclose critical evidence to the defendant.”
“The state is highly culpable for its failure to provide discovery to the defendant,” the judge, added in a measured tone. “Dismissal with prejudice is warranted,” she concluded, ending any hope of the state recharging Baldwin again.
As well, the decision by Judge Sommer on Friday at the end of an evidentiary hearing over a defense motion to dismiss and bullets dropped off to Santa Fe police in recent weeks by ex-Arizona cop Troy Teske could see incarcerated Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed released from state prison in the Land of Enchantment.
Gutierrez-Reed’s lawyers plan to file a motion for her release asap, Judge Sommer was also the judge in the armorer’s trial. In Santa Fe right now, Gutierrez-Reed had been brought into the city earlier this week from her prison, where she is serving an 18 months sentence out of her own Rust trial, in the assumption she would be a witness possibly today in Baldwin’s trial
My perception of prosecutorial misconduct in the first Rust case against the armorer Hannah Gutierrez was a factor that turned me against the prosecution's case against Baldwin. On trial day 3, state prosecutor Erlinda Joohnson upon learning that morning the state had violated the defendant's constitutional rights under the Brady Law by knowingly withholding evidence resigned after the prosecution team objected to dismissing the case against Baldwin, which Judge Sommer subsequently did.
Here is her interview stating her ethical and moral obligations.
Here is her interview stating her ethical and moral obligations.
If you only see ONE video of the two Rust trials, THIS is THE ONE.
- Prosecutorial misconduct, numerous examples cited. Cover up? Judge dismissed the Baldwin case because of them.
- How the bullets got on set or what happened to them? Follow the bullets right here.
- Sabotage? If there was, a person with a motive is named!
We will likely never know the full truth due to the manipulations of the ammunition supplier, and coverup or withholding of evidence by the prop master and the prosecution.
Justice for Halyna Hutchins is not possible. Judge Sommer has an opportunity today to release Hannah Gutierrez pending her appeal or time served. I'd argue that under the circumstances, an obligation to.
Watch the video carefully, understand who the parties are.
- Prosecutorial misconduct, numerous examples cited. Cover up? Judge dismissed the Baldwin case because of them.
- How the bullets got on set or what happened to them? Follow the bullets right here.
- Sabotage? If there was, a person with a motive is named!
We will likely never know the full truth due to the manipulations of the ammunition supplier, and coverup or withholding of evidence by the prop master and the prosecution.
Justice for Halyna Hutchins is not possible. Judge Sommer has an opportunity today to release Hannah Gutierrez pending her appeal or time served. I'd argue that under the circumstances, an obligation to.
Watch the video carefully, understand who the parties are.
You’d think they’d add lower thirds so we know who’s talking.
Peter C.
Veteran
I watched another video that explained it. I still have the same opinion as before. The prosecution was trying to gain an advantage by taking this evidence and filing it under another case so the defense wouldn't have access to it. So it was the right decision to dismiss.
That being said the evidence wasn't as important one might think. The ammo wasn't on set, it was claimed that it was from another Seth Kenney job. It's suspicious it was turned in by Hannah grandfather's friend. The implication is that it's similar to the Rust ammo (which it might be) and that he sabotaged Hannah by giving her live rounds. It is possible he could have accidentally included live rounds but doesn't matter because she should have check the rounds. In similar fashion Alec's defense was trying to absolve him of his misconduct by shifting blame to Seth too.
That being said the evidence wasn't as important one might think. The ammo wasn't on set, it was claimed that it was from another Seth Kenney job. It's suspicious it was turned in by Hannah grandfather's friend. The implication is that it's similar to the Rust ammo (which it might be) and that he sabotaged Hannah by giving her live rounds. It is possible he could have accidentally included live rounds but doesn't matter because she should have check the rounds. In similar fashion Alec's defense was trying to absolve him of his misconduct by shifting blame to Seth too.
Mr. Nick is the attorney in the RH of the screen delivering the motion to dismiss to Judge Mary Sommer. Mr. Spiro is the attorney at left who has just finished cross examination of the evidence collector, Poppel for the Sheriff's Dept.
The prosecutor Kari Morrissey took the stand after this request for dismissal in an attempt to rebut, but she has the facts wrong on several levels. The Court TV analysts felt one of her major mistakes was in having 'tunnel vision' for her reliance on crime scene pictures from the evidence collector. When Judge Sommer demanded to see the actual physical evidence (the cartridges) from Troy Teski that was excluded by Morrissey for not being similar to the live rounds found on set, she concluded that the rounds were in fact similar, and Morrissey was forced into acknowledging that she relied on photos taken by Poppel which appeared to not resemble the live rounds on set. Morrissey maintained in her assertions that the evidence supplied by Teski had never been on the set of Rust, but the point is not the rounds themselves but the batches the rounds could have been sourced from. It was a moot point because viewed from that angle, neither could the rounds have been supplied by anyone because they were the same rounds the prosecution alleged Hannah Gutierrez got from her father Thell Reed.
There are many other complicating factors I can help unravel. Morrissey falsely claimed the evidence supplied by Teski was harmful to Hannah Gutierrez' case because a cell phone extraction showed pictures of her holding the live ammunition, but there was never testimony to give an explanation for why she would have taken such pictures in the first place. Armorers would not normally take pictures of live rounds in their hand without there being a reason, so the context was not yet known, nor was the time the pictures were taken disclosed.
Seth Kenney had supplied live rounds to law enforcement that were not consistent with the live rounds found on set, likely to demonstrate he had no culpability. This provoked a search warrant of his PDQ office in Albuquerque where detectives stated they inspected every box. Seth Kenney, as always was present at every search just like he was for the search of the prop truck and prop cart on the set of Rust, after a text conversation with the prop master Sarah Zachary who testified to discarding evidence. We will never know what that evidence was.
Kenney bet Corporal Hancock $1000 they would not find any live ammunition in his office. Spiro asked Hancock under cross examination, "Did he win the bet?" Corporal Hancock, "He did not." Live rounds were found in a bathroom, but the rounds when tested by the FBI lab were not the same as the live rounds found on the set of Rust. But Troy Teski, himself a former law enforcement officer delivered some of the remaining rounds in his possession that were given to him for safekeeping by Thell Reed, and that Hannah Gutierrez did not have access to. Seth Kenney who had told Teski earlier that he tried to get Hannah Gutierrez fired from the set of Rust had stated, "Those are the rounds that killed Halyna Hutchins, Hannah Gutierrez got them from Thell Reed, there's your suspect." But Teski, upon turning over the live rounds to the Santa Fe Sheriff's office, and that were subsequently withheld from the Rust case by Morrissey, told the Sheriff's "You have been duped by Seth Kenney! Seth Kenney and Thell Reed together held a live shooting camp for actors of the set of 1883 and another, and that Seth brought back the remaining ammunition in a green box," which was found empty in the search of the PDQ office. What happened to THOSE rounds?
Morrissey has been accused by the Court TV experts of being strung along at all times by Kenney when he should have been regarded as a suspect.
The prosecutor Kari Morrissey took the stand after this request for dismissal in an attempt to rebut, but she has the facts wrong on several levels. The Court TV analysts felt one of her major mistakes was in having 'tunnel vision' for her reliance on crime scene pictures from the evidence collector. When Judge Sommer demanded to see the actual physical evidence (the cartridges) from Troy Teski that was excluded by Morrissey for not being similar to the live rounds found on set, she concluded that the rounds were in fact similar, and Morrissey was forced into acknowledging that she relied on photos taken by Poppel which appeared to not resemble the live rounds on set. Morrissey maintained in her assertions that the evidence supplied by Teski had never been on the set of Rust, but the point is not the rounds themselves but the batches the rounds could have been sourced from. It was a moot point because viewed from that angle, neither could the rounds have been supplied by anyone because they were the same rounds the prosecution alleged Hannah Gutierrez got from her father Thell Reed.
There are many other complicating factors I can help unravel. Morrissey falsely claimed the evidence supplied by Teski was harmful to Hannah Gutierrez' case because a cell phone extraction showed pictures of her holding the live ammunition, but there was never testimony to give an explanation for why she would have taken such pictures in the first place. Armorers would not normally take pictures of live rounds in their hand without there being a reason, so the context was not yet known, nor was the time the pictures were taken disclosed.
Seth Kenney had supplied live rounds to law enforcement that were not consistent with the live rounds found on set, likely to demonstrate he had no culpability. This provoked a search warrant of his PDQ office in Albuquerque where detectives stated they inspected every box. Seth Kenney, as always was present at every search just like he was for the search of the prop truck and prop cart on the set of Rust, after a text conversation with the prop master Sarah Zachary who testified to discarding evidence. We will never know what that evidence was.
Kenney bet Corporal Hancock $1000 they would not find any live ammunition in his office. Spiro asked Hancock under cross examination, "Did he win the bet?" Corporal Hancock, "He did not." Live rounds were found in a bathroom, but the rounds when tested by the FBI lab were not the same as the live rounds found on the set of Rust. But Troy Teski, himself a former law enforcement officer delivered some of the remaining rounds in his possession that were given to him for safekeeping by Thell Reed, and that Hannah Gutierrez did not have access to. Seth Kenney who had told Teski earlier that he tried to get Hannah Gutierrez fired from the set of Rust had stated, "Those are the rounds that killed Halyna Hutchins, Hannah Gutierrez got them from Thell Reed, there's your suspect." But Teski, upon turning over the live rounds to the Santa Fe Sheriff's office, and that were subsequently withheld from the Rust case by Morrissey, told the Sheriff's "You have been duped by Seth Kenney! Seth Kenney and Thell Reed together held a live shooting camp for actors of the set of 1883 and another, and that Seth brought back the remaining ammunition in a green box," which was found empty in the search of the PDQ office. What happened to THOSE rounds?
Morrissey has been accused by the Court TV experts of being strung along at all times by Kenney when he should have been regarded as a suspect.
Right!
The ammo was used to implicate Hannah Gutierrez for not checking it. She is guilty of negligence for that. Is it any more suspicious that Teski had a motive to get Gutierrez off the hook than for Kenney to put her on it?
Seth Kenney said couldn't remember when he brought back the live rounds to his PDQ office in Albuquerque from the trip he made with Thell Reed, father of Hannah Gutierrez to the Taylor Ranch in Texas to put on a live round shooting camp for the actors of 1883, but now it's known to be Oct 10, 9 days before the shooting, and that after that date but before the shooting Sarah Zachary on her day off drove to Albuquerque to pick up a box of dummy rounds she brought back to the Rust set in the same type of white box labeled dummy rounds, J.S., the initials of Joe Swanson who also happens to be a reloader of live ammunition.
Now the disclosure by attorney Jason Bowles of 900 pages of witness statements not disclosed to the defense? Really?
Remember, Hannah's conviction was based on her statement to Deputy Bienvenides that 'this' was the box of dummy rounds she brought to the set, a white box labeled dummy rounds J.S. that was found to contain a live round in it, therefore the whole prosecution argument was that she was solely responsible for the live rounds on the set, which included live rounds found on the prop cart. We know that in the aftermath, Sarah Zachary was frantically reaching out to Seth Kenney, who texted her, "Ugh not good," and that Sarah Zachary was disposing of evidence, we don't know the extents of that.
Is it a stretch to think that while Sarah is sorting dummies from live rounds she could have been placing certain live rounds into open boxes on the cart to gather them up? Could she have been doing that completely unaware that Hannah would later identify for Deputy Bienvenides that particular white box as belonging to herself? We don't know what she was doing with the live rounds found on that prop cart and in the white box but we know she told Hannah "We found some bad ones" so she was handling them.
Shouldn't the questions be answered, Did Hannah Gutierrez have access to the live rounds belonging to her father Thell Reed, that were in the possession of Troy Teske? If the rounds were reloads from Joe Swanson as has been stated, and given to Troy Teske to hold for Thell Reed, did Thell ever have possession of them before withdrawing them for the trip to the Taylor Ranch in Texas with Seth Kenney to put on the live round shooting camp? If Thell did not have them in his possession before that point, then Hannah could not have obtained them from Thell. Testimony or witness statements are that Seth Kenney kept possession of the unused live rounds remaining after the Texas shooting camp, in a green ammo box that was later found empty in a search of his PDQ office in Albuquerque 40 days after the shooting. What did he do with them?
Lastly, to the people here that have said it doesn't matter who brought the live ammo to the set, it was Hannah Gutierrez' job to check them before loading them in Alec Baldwin's gun, I disagree. Can you imagine a trial where a jury would not have wanted to know where and how live rounds that are never supposed to be on a movie set got there? That's why the questions and doubts remain to this day because that question has not been resolved. That jury depended on the veracity of the prosecution as to the source of the live ammunition to prove that point, and that prosecution willfully committed egregious violations of her rights and the law in order to win its case and obtain a conviction against the defendant.
Now the disclosure by attorney Jason Bowles of 900 pages of witness statements not disclosed to the defense? Really?
Remember, Hannah's conviction was based on her statement to Deputy Bienvenides that 'this' was the box of dummy rounds she brought to the set, a white box labeled dummy rounds J.S. that was found to contain a live round in it, therefore the whole prosecution argument was that she was solely responsible for the live rounds on the set, which included live rounds found on the prop cart. We know that in the aftermath, Sarah Zachary was frantically reaching out to Seth Kenney, who texted her, "Ugh not good," and that Sarah Zachary was disposing of evidence, we don't know the extents of that.
Is it a stretch to think that while Sarah is sorting dummies from live rounds she could have been placing certain live rounds into open boxes on the cart to gather them up? Could she have been doing that completely unaware that Hannah would later identify for Deputy Bienvenides that particular white box as belonging to herself? We don't know what she was doing with the live rounds found on that prop cart and in the white box but we know she told Hannah "We found some bad ones" so she was handling them.
Shouldn't the questions be answered, Did Hannah Gutierrez have access to the live rounds belonging to her father Thell Reed, that were in the possession of Troy Teske? If the rounds were reloads from Joe Swanson as has been stated, and given to Troy Teske to hold for Thell Reed, did Thell ever have possession of them before withdrawing them for the trip to the Taylor Ranch in Texas with Seth Kenney to put on the live round shooting camp? If Thell did not have them in his possession before that point, then Hannah could not have obtained them from Thell. Testimony or witness statements are that Seth Kenney kept possession of the unused live rounds remaining after the Texas shooting camp, in a green ammo box that was later found empty in a search of his PDQ office in Albuquerque 40 days after the shooting. What did he do with them?
Lastly, to the people here that have said it doesn't matter who brought the live ammo to the set, it was Hannah Gutierrez' job to check them before loading them in Alec Baldwin's gun, I disagree. Can you imagine a trial where a jury would not have wanted to know where and how live rounds that are never supposed to be on a movie set got there? That's why the questions and doubts remain to this day because that question has not been resolved. That jury depended on the veracity of the prosecution as to the source of the live ammunition to prove that point, and that prosecution willfully committed egregious violations of her rights and the law in order to win its case and obtain a conviction against the defendant.
And Here it is, Case Closed. I watched this live on Court TV which was a mistake because they kept interrupting during the testimony of Corporal Hancock. Later I searched but couldn't find the complete live feed, only recaps.
And Finally, here it is, with all the drama. I'm starting at the point of Corporal Hancock's testimony, if you want to rewind back for Seth Kenney's lies, feel free, it's all here, the annihilation of Hancock and Morrissey, and the Judge Sommer's reaction, and the reaction of the panel.
Get some popcorn and watch this. And free Hannah Now.
And Finally, here it is, with all the drama. I'm starting at the point of Corporal Hancock's testimony, if you want to rewind back for Seth Kenney's lies, feel free, it's all here, the annihilation of Hancock and Morrissey, and the Judge Sommer's reaction, and the reaction of the panel.
Get some popcorn and watch this. And free Hannah Now.