A New Mexico judge on Monday upheld an involuntary manslaughter conviction against a movie armorer in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer by Alec Baldwin on the set of the Western film “Rust.”
Armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed asked a court to dismiss her conviction or convene a new trial, alleging that prosecutors failed to share evidence that could have cleared her.
Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer in her written order noted that the armorer’s attorneys did not establish that there was a reasonable possibility that the outcome of the trial would have been different had the evidence been available to Gutierrez-Reed.
The judge also rejected a request from Gutierrez-Reed that she be released from custody, saying it was moot because the request for a new trial was denied.
Marlow Sommer halted and ended Baldwin’s trial in July based on misconduct of police and prosecutors and their withholding evidence from the defense in the 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set outside Santa Fe.
Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer for “Rust,” was pointing a gun at Hutchins during a rehearsal on a movie set outside Santa Fe when the revolver went off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.
A jury convicted Gutierrez-Reed of involuntary manslaughter in March in a trial overseen by Marlowe Sommer, who later sentenced her to the maximum 18-month penalty. Gutierrez-Reed has an appeal of the conviction pending in a higher court. Jurors acquitted her of allegations she tampered with evidence in the “Rust” investigation.
Prosecutors blamed Gutierrez-Reed for unwittingly bringing live ammunition onto the set of “Rust” and for failing to follow basic gun safety protocols.
Evidence that Gutierrez-Reed’s attorneys said prosecutors failed to share included a report by a firearms expert about the functionality of the gun that Baldwin used, ammunition that was later turned in to authorities and an interview with “Rust” ammunition supplier Seth Kenney.
Defense attorneys did not immediately respond Monday to an email requesting comment on the judge’s decision.
Gutierrez-Reed has pleaded not guilty to a separate felony charge that she allegedly carried a gun into a bar in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where firearms are prohibited. A proposed plea agreement is awaiting court review.
Changing OpenAI’s Nonprofit Structure Would Raise Questions and Heightened Scrutiny
The artificial intelligence maker OpenAI may face a costly and inconvenient reckoning with its nonprofit origins even as its valuation recently exploded to $157 billion.
Nonprofit tax experts have been closely watching OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, since last November when its board ousted and rehired CEO Sam Altman. Now, some believe the company may have reached — or exceeded — the limits of its corporate structure, under which it is organized as a nonprofit whose mission is to develop artificial intelligence to benefit "all of humanity" but with for-profit subsidiaries under its control.
Jill Horwitz, a professor in law and medicine at UCLA School of Law who has studied OpenAI, said that when two sides of a joint venture between a nonprofit and a for-profit come into conflict, the charitable purpose must always win out.
"It's the job of the board first, and then the regulators and the court, to ensure that the promise that was made to the public to pursue the charitable interest is kept," she said.
Altman recently confirmed that OpenAI is considering a corporate restructure but did not offer any specifics. A source told The Associated Press, however, that the company is looking at the possibility of turning OpenAI into a public benefit corporation. No final decision has been made by the board and the timing of the shift hasn't been determined, the source said.
In the event the nonprofit loses control of its subsidiaries, some experts think OpenAI may have to pay for the interests and assets that had belonged to the nonprofit. So far, most observers agree OpenAI has carefully orchestrated its relationships between its nonprofit and its various other corporate entities to try to avoid that.
However, they also see... Read More