Halyna Hutchins Shot With Prop Gun - Alec Baldwin indicted & Hannah Gutierrez-Reed charged, 2021 #8

[ch_13]

I was rewatching Friday’s hearing, and I noticed something.

Earlier the judge had said that she just wanted to read Poppell’s report on what Teske brought in, she didn’t need to see the actual ammo. Then she apparently notices something in the report and her whole demeanor changes. She suddenly now wants to see the evidence, and conducts the inquiry herself, donning gloves and sorting through the ammo.

I think she read through the inventory of what Teske turned in and saw that some of the bullets were Starline brass with silver primer. These are the exact rounds that were used on Rust and were tested by the FBI.

I believe that’s when the judge realized that Poppell was not being truthful. This wasn’t regular ammo that you can pick up from your local gun store. These bullets were made by Joe Swanson specifically for use on movie sets. Almost certainly the only time Poppell would have seen them before would be on the Rust investigation, so it’s just not credible that she inventoried them, yet couldn’t recall what Teske had turned in and didn’t think it was tied to Rust.

You can watch it here at 1:07:30.

 

[Forest_Wood]

Aside from the fact that there was good reason to place stock in the evidence because it was delivered by Troy Teske (someone familiar to Hancock and who had been on phone calls or otherwise referenced in communications with Seth Kenny), it's worth noting that the prosecutor even implciitly acknowledged - eventually - that it should have been assigned the same case number. She simply claimed to not know that was procedure.

It's very possible the prosecutor did not know LE's SOP re: the case numbers. But at the very end of Hancock's testimony, the judge asked one more question, almost as an afterthought, which was if Morrissey was included in the discussions of what to do with the ammunition, and Hancock said yes. She was aware. For me, that was jaw dropping. That ended it right there. Judge asked the right question, finally.
MOO.

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

I was rewatching Friday’s hearing, and I noticed something.

Earlier the judge had said that she just wanted to read Poppell’s report on what Teske brought in, she didn’t need to see the actual ammo. Then she apparently notices something in the report and her whole demeanor changes. She suddenly now wants to see the evidence, and conducts the inquiry herself, donning gloves and sorting through the ammo.

I think she read through the inventory of what Teske turned in and saw that some of the bullets were Starline brass with silver primer. These are the exact rounds that were used on Rust and were tested by the FBI.

I believe that’s when the judge realized that Poppell was not being truthful. This wasn’t regular ammo that you can pick up from your local gun store. These bullets were made by Joe Swanson specifically for use on movie sets. Almost certainly the only time Poppell would have seen them before would be on the Rust investigation, so it’s just not credible that she inventoried them, yet couldn’t recall what Teske had turned in and didn’t think it was tied to Rust.

You can watch it here at 1:07:30.

KM knew the gig was up right there. It's when the note got passed.

Also KM tells the judge, I think, that they don't need to use gloves to which the judge snaps 'well, that's your opinion'. Was KM hoping to sabotage?

I'm laughing at all this handling of the rounds though, it's not laboratory conditions by a long stretch! People who think putting gloves on will keep things uncontaminated whilst they're busy touching plenty of other surfaces plus their hair and their glasses are clearly not scientists. Also the sound of bullets rolling around on the table, it's all a bit like a bunch of school kids were set a task.

The judge is so cool tho, with her dis-impressed face and old skool stoner vibe. She seems like a woman who's seen it *all* and then some.

 

[katykat]

I disagree, the issue of who brought the ammo to LE gives it no weight as evidence of anything, it just cannot work that way. It has to be examined. LE cannot enter things as being evidence in a death investigation just because of who brought in the ammo, which was not recovered by LE, not at the scene, not secured for years, not even yet examined. It would not be on a follow report with the same case number, it would be on a separate case number issued on the date it was turned in.
The prosecutor is not LE, and has no say in whether or not a report should be a follow-up or new event. They messed up discovery, nothing more nefarious than that happened. MOO

I suppose we have to agree to disagree here then.

I think the nature of who brought it in, his connection and familiarity with the supply chain of Swanson/Kenny/Gutierrez going back to 2021 and his subsequent statement to the police mean it should have been immediately treated as Rust evidence. I think there was good cause to believe this evidence was related to evidence that LE was interested in back in 2021 (the "green ammo can"). I just think it's telling that this is the only item of evidence that was not included with the "actual" evidence.

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

Slightly off topic but did we ever discover what Hancock's large tattoo on her arm said? Something 'GO I'

 

[branmuffin]

Whoa! I just re-visited this case thread to find out what's been going on. This is big stuff. I always thought that Prosecutor was show-boating and grand-standing and taking things way beyond necessary in her emotive demeanour but I thought she was on the side of 'right' and would never do something as ill judged as this.

Watching that is awful - her career is surely ended now, at least in terms of ever assisting prosecution? She got her 'mea cupla' on the record when nobody wanted or asked her to because she knew it's the end and she wanted to get her point of view stated IMO. Looks like she was tearful packing her stuff and leaving the court.

Will the court / judge be taking further action against her in terms of punitive action or having her skills scrutinised by her professional body? It seems in the judge's summing up that maybe this isn't the end of the matter on a personal level. All that time, costs, money, and jury time taken.

Will HGR's situation be affected? Surely it must be? Her case can no longer be considered 'sound' and must also be retroactively dismissed in parallel surely?

Also, does this put Seth Kenny back in the frame?

The thing I find so odd about her decision to bury evidence is that she's usually a defense lawyer not a prosecutor. How would she feel as a defense lawyer knowing the possibility that cases she lost may have to do with suppression of evidence by the prosecution? It also makes me wonder why a prosecution team would want a defense attorney on this case. It taints a lot of cases they've worked on in the past, imo.