Alec Baldwin shooting: Witness fears industry retaliation for testimonials

SANTA, NM –

Special prosecutors in the shooting of a cameraman on the set of the Alec Baldwin film “Rust” asked on Friday to protect a witness’s name from disclosure as they file suit against a film gun specialist.

Prosecutors said in court filings that the witness is willing to testify that movie set armor star Hannah Gutierrez-Reed handed a bag of narcotics to the witness after she returned from a police station interrogation. But they said the witness is concerned about being harassed by the media and blacklisted by the industry.

Gutierrez-Reed is fighting charges of involuntary manslaughter and tampering with evidence as the only remaining defendant in the case after prosecutors dropped an involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin in April. However, prosecutors can still press charges against him.

Baldwin pointed a gun at cameraman Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal when it went off, killing her and injuring director Joel Souza on October 21, 2021.

In a new trial, prosecutors Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis said the testimony about a drug transfer will support allegations that Gutierrez-Reed tried to prevent law enforcement from obtaining evidence related to the handling of the firearm prior to the shooting.

The witness fears that if they testify, they could be banned by the film industry “for putting forward information about the defendant,” the court said. “They want to keep their identities hidden from the public for as long as possible.”

The charge of tampering with evidence was filed against Gutierrez-Reed last week. Prosecutors have alleged that she drank and smoked marijuana at night while filming “Rust” and was likely hungover the day a live bullet was loaded into the gun Baldwin was using.

Gutierrez-Reed’s attorney, Jason Bowles, criticized prosecutors’ attempts to bring forward a “secret witness.”

“A secret witness shows up 20 months later? With no actual corroboration or evidence? And the state doesn’t want to identify the person?” he said. “This is a throwback to the secret star chamber persecutions in England in the 15th century that were abolished.”

Bowles called allegations of tampering against his client “retaliatory and vengeful” and an example of “character assassination”.