Lawyers for gunsmith Hannah Gutierrez are calling for a retrial

A judge in New Mexico will consider whether Rust gunsmith Hannah Gutierrez should be granted a new trial after prosecutors are accused of withholding evidence in the on-set shooting.

Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer of the New Mexico First Judicial Circuit Court said Thursday she will make a decision next week on whether to grant a new trial. She will also consider a request from defense attorney Jason Bowles to immediately release Gutierrez from prison while the court considers her request.

The decisions for immediate release and a new trial would be made in two separate orders, Sommer said during an hour-long hearing Thursday morning with Bowles and Special Prosecutor Kari Morrissey.

Gutierrez was found guilty of manslaughter in March in connection with the accidental death of “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on set.

Prosecutors alleged at the time that Gutierrez brought live ammunition to the set and loaded it into a prop gun held by actor Alec Baldwin. Baldwin was aiming the prop gun at Hutchins during a rehearsal when a shot went off.

Gutierrez is currently serving an 18-month prison sentence for her role in the shooting.

But in July, the case took a turn. Sommer dropped charges against Baldwin after his lawyers accused him of misconduct. Among other things, they alleged that there was a secret agreement between the prosecutor and Santa Fe County sheriff’s officials to hide from the defense a bag of ammunition that could have been used as evidence in the case.

A few days after this ruling, Gutierrez’s lawyers also filed a motion to dismiss her lawsuit.

At Thursday’s hearing, Bowles said the bag of ammunition, a report from a weapons expert hired by the special counsel, and an interview with the owner of a company that supplied Rust with the guns, blanks and some blanks were not made available to the defense. The ammunition appeared to have a stamp that was an identifying feature of Rust’s bullets.

“We are asking for dismissal on the same basis that this court dismissed Mr. Baldwin’s case,” Bowles said during the hearing.

He also asked the judge to exclude Morrissey from the trial as a special prosecutor.

Morrissey denied Bowles’ allegations, arguing that they did not meet the legal requirements for granting a new trial. She also opposed Gutierrez’s motion for immediate release.

“When you look at the six factors that the court has to consider in granting a retrial, the defense doesn’t get there,” she said during the hearing. “They just don’t get there.”